Highmeade Storyteller

Zoe Morgan is a small 9yr old who rides once a week at this riding school on small, quiet ponies. Zoe has the makings of a good rider because she is relaxed, listens, thinks and shows good feel, she is currently riding at level 3. Eric (Highmeade Storyteller) is a very sharp, slight 12.2hh who thinks and behaves like a minature thoroughbred. Very few riding school kids have been able to develop the ability to ride him until they are too big for him. Zoe has commented several times that she would love to ride him. So where do you reach the point where you feel they would be safe enough to have a go knowing that if you get it wrong its going to be a potential disaster. Today was the day. I put Zoe on a lunge to start and we did quite a few walk trot transistions then we tried canter, Zoe did quite a few laps in canter before she worked out how to slow him down or stop him but once she got it she was fine. She didnt panic or tip forward and shorten the reins as a lot would but learnt to keep her shoulders back stay relaxed and take a firm pull. We did a few more canters on both reins then took her off the lunge line, Zoe rode him well riding school movements in trot and canter around the school. I don’t think I would put her in a group lesson on him yet because she still is a little loose in the saddle, she wouldn’t have a problem stopping him but there are times when he gets very worked up and I think he might dislodged her, but I don’t think it will take her long to get the measure of him.

Posted on Saturday, September 15th, 2007 at 4:13 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.