A Non-Horsey Rider

Yesterday was a great riding day. The weather was just perfect, sunny but not too hot, and it was teacher's inservice day in our school district so my younger brother and sister( 18 and 13 respectively) were able to come out and play.

Now my sister is a budding amature rider and takes her lessons seriously, whereas my brother takes a more lack-luster approach to the whole thing. He saw us pulling the muddy horses in from the pasture and gathering the equipment and he made a beline for the house calling over his shoulder that he wanted to ride when we had the horses ready. We sort of forgot to let him know and worked on our various horse projects until he came out an hour later with a hurt look on his face because we didn't call him. We did mention that if he had been helping out he might have known when the horses were ready.

Anyway he watched my sister ride for a few minutes as I called out instructions, then I asked if he was ready and had heard what I had been saying about holding the reins properly.
He said he had not really been listening, he had been watching the horse.
Oh, I say, well did you see how she turned tight around the barrel and went wide around the edge of the arena?
Well, no, he didn't notice, he kinda had his eyes on the horse but he was thinking about something else.

At this point I was wondering why this kid even wanted to ride but I told my sister to give him his turn and he happily stepped up to mount Tickles. Tickles, by the way is fourteen and a half hands tall, that's a little under five feet at the shoulder, and my brother is a gangly six-foot-three or so, his feet hung down to her knees but I managed to get the stirrups to fit. Tickles then proceded to take him on a nice little tour of the arena, I quickly gave up yelling out pointers as everybody but him(the horse included) knew he was only a passenger.

After a few minutes he announced he was ready to trot so I stopped him and told him to give a little rein, squeeze with both heels and cluck. Turns out teenage boys are genetically incabable of producing any sound even resembling a cluck. Miraculously, though, he could manage a kissing sound, but since that is more of a canter cue, we decided to just stick to the first two. After a couple of passes, Tickles figured out that the flailing and arm waving was a new-fangled method of cueing for the trot and finally indulged him in a pokey, lazy, walk-jog that brought a smile to his face.

He proudly pulled up and patted his trusty steed and declared he was going back in to play video games. We girls finished up our lesson and put the horses away. Looking back it occurs to me that they both had, I think, an equally good time riding. They both accomplished what they set out to, and it proves again what I always thought. You can have fun and enjoy horses on any level, you mustn't have preconceived notions about what what you should accomplish and how you do it in order to be a successful rider. The main thing is to enjoy yourself and be safe.

However, next time I think I may have to have him help saddle up or clean a stall afterwards, we don't want today's youth thinking there's any such thing as a free ride!