2022 Riding Journey

#27 Maisy and a Flying Change

The Show horses have come back to my trainer's, now that the Show is over and done with for the year.

My trainer told me to catch Riggs and Cordell for lessons, then hesitated as she thought for a bit.  Finally she asked if I wanted to ride one of the Show horses.  I said sure, and she told me to catch Maisy.  

Maisy is a seal brown (that's what I call it, my trainer calls it bay) mare who's taller than me.  She's probably at least 15.2 hh or taller.  She's also pretty solid, so there must be some draft in her background somewhere.  But she's not too solid and bony for my tastes.

My trainer had mentioned, before the Show horses came, that I might get to ride her.  But, due to other things, I wasn't able to ride any of the Show horses except for Candy Sue that one time.  However, it turned out that I was able to ride Maisy after all.  In fact, Maisy might be temporarily joining the lesson program for awhile.  

Maisy is definitely a boss mare.  When I caught her and brought her to the hitching rail, my trainer had to rearrange the horses so she wouldn't try to kick someone.  

Vivie and James both came for their lesson.  Vivie rode Riggs and James rode Cordell.  My trainer rode Candy Sue (which might be a sign that she too is staying for the lesson program) and we all went out to ride in the big outdoor arena.  

My trainer had told me very little about Maisy before I mounted.  She said that she'd jumped her for the first time just a bit ago, and Maisy had taken it all in stride.  Which is pretty good, especially considering my trainer made it sound like she was just broken in when she came before the Show.

I'm thankful that there is now a mounting block out in the back.  I'm not sure I could mount Maisy without it, or without lengthening the stirrup on that side.  She was good about lining up to the block, though I did have to check her to keep her from walking off right away after I mounted.  

I was the first one who finished tacking up and thus was out in the arena before everyone else.  As I mounted, everyone else was coming to the outdoor arena.  My trainer didn't line me out on what to expect from Maisy, what not to do with her, or even what to do with her, like she has in the past when I've gotten on new horses.  Instead, she told me to do some walk and trot on her, and get a feel for what she was like.  That told me Maisy probably wasn't going to pull anything too crazy.

She also told me that if I felt like Maisy was really drifting to the outside when I turned / circled her, that putting my weight down on the side she was drifting towards was a really effective way to keep her from doing so.  

As soon as I started walking her, I felt how solid she was.  See, I had wondered how she was going to feel to me since she was so big and I've been riding tinier horses of late.  Twister always felt gangly, awkward, and unresponsive to me after riding Mariah or Nibbs, and I wondered if she was going to be the same way. 

But she wasn't gangly.  Now you could tell you had a lot of horse under you.  But it wasn't... I don't know how to describe it, I just know I liked the feel of her.  She put a good amount of contact in your hand, and it almost felt like she might start trying to lean against me or pull the reins out of my hands.  I made sure to keep my fingers closed because of that, but she never did more than that.

For the walk warm up, I went around the outside of arena and did some circles.  She turned easily, and I had no problems with her. 

After we'd done circles in both directions, I decided to ask for some trot.  It took some squeezing and kissing before she finally went into it, and when she did she seemed a little grump about it.  Once in trot though, she was fine and her trot was wonderful to post to.  I think it was somewhere around her that my trainer said to me, "Isn't she cute?"