Muddy Riding

Living in Houston, you never know what the weather is going to do. Two days ago, it felt like the middle of summer. Today could only be described as a soggy winter day. Winter or not, I headed out to the barn after work with guests in tow. My father, my sister and a family friend all wanted to ride Morrissey and I was happy to take them.

I was a little nervous when I felt how cold it was this morning. Horses tend to get pretty frisky when it gets cold, especially on the first cold day. I had nothing to worry about though, she behaved perfectly. The only issue was her saddle slipping. It was so hard to find a saddle that fit her, in the first place. Now the saddle fits fine, but I can't seem to keep it in place. You can see it slipping a little in the photo. If anyone knows any tricks for keeping it in place let me know!

I didn't ride today. I'm still too nervous. When I

was in high school, my horse bolted and I fell off. It was one of my first riding experiences, and it

scared me pretty badly. The horse wasn't well-trained and I was too inexperienced to handle her. I ended up becoming phobic about riding. Thankfully, I'm no longer phobic, but I'm still really nervous. So far, I've been able to mount and dismount Morrissey while she was being held, but I haven't done much more than that. I've only had her for 3 weeks and the first week we didn't have a saddle that fit her. I'm working on it slowly but surely.

I think I'd be able to move forward with my riding if I had an experienced horse person there to help. I took a lesson before I bought Morrissey just to make sure that I could get on a horse without freaking out. It really reassured me to have someone there who had control of the situation. Being a suburban girl, I don't really have friends with horse experience. When I get the money together, I'll get more lessons for sure! You might think that buying a horse is a bad idea for someone who is pretty afraid of riding, but I'm so glad I did. I love having a horse. I'm having so much fun!

In other news, I found out that one of the horses at my boarding stable is a stallion. Maybe I can talk Chris into letting me breed Morrissey after all!