This week I’ve been very lucky and two friends gave me the gift of letting me hunt their horses. And I’ve still got this big old grin on my face from the treat.
I have been feeling hunt deprived. I’m not horse deprived — I have Sheldon to ride, Curly to help get fit and Freedom who can be walked under saddle for 25 minutes per day — but it’s been a bit painful to miss all those glorious spring hunts.
Two in one week? I’m starting to feel pretty happy.
Hunting other peoples’ horses makes me a tad nervous. After all, galloping cross country through varied terrain on a horse you’ve maybe ridden once before can have it’s moments! Both of this horses I’ve ridden in hunt clinics so I had the walk/trot/canter part down pat. It was the galloping, stopping and jumping part that was unknown.
However, each of the horses I rode this week are experienced hunt horses and I know they love to hunt. After pre-visualizing everything that could go wrong: falling off, injuring their horse, etc. Guess what? Both horses were great. In fact, my nervousness subsided as soon as I sat on them and felt all that positive energy and their joy at hunting.
So thank you Suzanne and Carolyn for sharing your wonderful hunt horses with me. I had so much fun!