Romeo's First Ride

Jen and I happened to have some coinciding free time today because it's the week of Cancel All the Things. She texted me to ask if I could come up and ride Romeo for the first time. After some internal debate, I agreed. I am generally against riding two year olds. I'm not even a big fan of riding three year olds. I'm all about letting horses grow and mature, both physically and mentally. However, at the end of the day, I respect an owner's wishes and I realize a good start at an early age is much better than a crappy start later on.

Those of you who have been reading along know that Romeo has done a lot of ground work. I myself did a good bit of lunging and ground driving with him, both under saddle and in harness. I even threw a leg over him once to see what would happen (nothing). Jen just wanted me to hop on him and walk around for ten minutes. Why not?

Romeo hasn't done much in the last couple weeks. The last thing he participated in was a bomb-proofing clinic in  north Jersey (which Tor handled him at). He did very well and has just been out in the pasture, being a horse since then. I hadn't seen him for some time before that either.

I arrived and Romeo looked happy to see me. As usual, he stood politely to be groomed and tacked up. Jen put a dressage bridle with a double jointed snaffle on him and we walked out to the recently-fenced arena. I lunged him for a couple minutes just to make sure he wasn't feeling frisky (he wasn't). I led him around the ring to get a good look at everything and made him lead the way back.

Before long, it was time to mount. I threw the mounting block alongside of him. No response. I stomped to the top of the steps. Still nothing. I leaned on him, patted his far flank, and thumped the stirrups. He stood still. With no further ado, I swung on board. He basically rolled his eyes at me and went with it, as most young horses I've started tend to do.

The hardest part was getting him to take the first couple steps. He's so desensitized that he happily ignored my leg, standing still like a good boy. Eventually he accidentally took a step forward. I praised him and the connection clicked. By the end of our ten minute jaunt, he understood what leg meant. We did a few laps around the ring, changed direction, and did some circles. Then I dismounted. Romeo was AWESOME. He was soft, supple, and relaxed. He should make a great riding horse in no time.

Jen's niece took pictures for me.

He's looking more thoroughbred-y. 

He still has such a baby face. 

Making him lead around the ring.

Not concerned.

"How'd you get up there?"

Soft soft soft. 

Relaxing.

Dunno why I was leaning way back all day...?

GOOD BABY!!!

Love this gelding.