Preparing to Ride

Xena was rarely ridden during her 17-years. She was started as a young mare by Peter Campbell, during a natural horsemanship clinic in Alberta. Fast forward 10 years, and she’d changed hands, been a PMU mare for several years, and ended up as a rescue on a feedlot. In 2007 she was again backed by professional trainers, but her last ride turned into a bucking session and the rider was seriously injured. Understandably, no one has ridden her since.

I’m not a professional rider. I’m not even an advanced rider. But in any case, I don’t think it’s crazy to restart her myself. She knows me, trusts me, and is strongly bonded to me. And just as importantly, I know her; I know how she reacts when she’s frightened, I know how she behaves when she’s confident. I can recognize her thresholds before she’s overwhelmed, and I have the patience to go back to square-one, if that’s what she needs. And, by the time I mount her, we’ll have completed 2 years of Parelli groundwork training together — that’s significant. (I’ve almost convinced myself that I’m capable. :p)

My plan is to train Xena from the ground, on as many pre-riding skills as I can find or create. I plan to above all, take the time Xena needs; months if necessary. We will have many training sessions, leading up to our first ride, because the more I build her confidence from the ground, the safer I’ll be in the saddle … and the more confident she’ll be under it. All it’s going to take is time, patience, perseverance and love — in abundance.

* Key Training Sessions represent dates when we seemed to make significant progress, although there are often several training sessions between dates.