hn28.

so i rode my horse. for the first and second time these past two days. it was amazing. although now i may be realizing that i made a mistake, and possibly a serious one. the point is, that a horse needs to be trained extensively on the ground prior to riding, which i kind of skipped. and riding him wasn't so bad, but it required a lot of force, and that is something that shouldn't be used. well, we'll see what happens today. the only problem is that i can't train the horse well from the ground because he has learned very well to follow me, and when i try to drive him from behind he just turns around. i dunno. maybe i need to take it slow and see if i can retrain that behavior. then again, i think its a good thing that he follows me. i will keep you guys updated as to the status of this experience. but before i go, i should share the story of the first mount, which was pretty spectacular.

so most horses, when you put a saddle on them for the first time, throw the saddle off. they kick, rise up, and lose it. that's important to know before you hear this story. so two days ago i went to take my horse out and decided that i would saddle it. while i was pondering the question, a few people who are working for my uncle cutting coffee showed up to watch. i told them i would be putting the saddle on the horse, so they got all excited and called a few more. by the time i got to where i keep the saddle, i had an audience of about twenty people. i brought the saddle down, calmed ruso a bit, and then began the slow process of placing the saddle, the tail piece, and the ties on the bottom. not even a flinch. he didn't move, nor kick, nor anything. so i watched him for a bit like this, walked him around, and then suddenly someone says : "mount him!". and i think to myself, why not. so i have my friend alex hold the horse, and with my stomach, i hop on the saddle. nothing. so i swing my feet into the stirrups. still nothing. i get alex to walk in front of the horse, and he follows. it was amazing. no negative reaction whatsoever. so then yesterday i thought, why not do it again, but this time with the bosal, which is used to drive the horse in one direction or another. mounting was a little harder, because for some reason the first time i placed the saddle on him he threw it off, but with the second time there was no problem. i mounted him again, and tried the bosal. he didn't seem to get it. so then i had my friend pancho walk in front while i tapped the horses ass with the lasso. he started walking, then running, then all of a sudden i was way ahead of pancho with the horse trotting below me. it was amazing. we ended up riding from pancho's house all the way down to the cooperative. just me and the horse. it was hard, and he didn't seem to respond too well to the bosal commands, which i think is my fault due to the lack of ground training. but maybe, i can do it mounted. we'll see. anyway, that's the story. hope you guys like it.