Indoor arena ride #4

I did make it out to the barn yesterday.

I was biding my time, watching wunderground for the best moment to go.  It said:

winds 10-15 mph

I thought, "Great.  I can deal with that."  And I got in my car.  By the time I was outside of town it became apparent the winds were a heck of a lot stronger than 15.  My car blew all over the road.


I arrived at the barn outside of Glenrock in the middle of a windstorm so fierce Chev was sure we were going to die in the blowing sand while she tried her best to go around me on the line.

But--whatever.  I was already there.  I tacked her up and we had this kind of ride.





When I got up there the barn owner was just finishing up a lesson with a few little kids.  I had one of those moments when I mounted my horse where I felt like I was on top of the Sears Tower.  Or, Rockefeller Center.  Since I've never actually been on top of the Sears Tower.  But, anyway--

I forget how freaking tall my horse is until I'm around other horses...and we are just towering over them.  Yikes.

I started the video camera after we had done some warmup.  The other horses left, and Chev was sure she'd be stuck in the indoor arena with the howling wind for all eternity.  It was very stressful.  Poor girl.

I like the foam between her buttcheeks.  At least she was working with her hiney a bit!

I swear that my horse does stand when I get on.  It's really hard to tell how nervous she was in the video--as long as I kept her working she didn't lose her mind too much.  The sound of the wind was really agitating her.  A lot more than the last time we rode in there.  Of course, the wind was a lot stronger, too.

I was thinking a lot about forward, and how a forward horse is much less likely to come up off the ground (either in front or behind you).  I feel like it's just as much a mental thing for them.  It never occurs to the forward horse to rear.  So I tried to be happy with all the exuberant forward motion I was getting most of the time.  Again I'm surprised at how quiet she appears in the video, and how train-wrecky she felt in my hands.

On the downside I'm having to almost stand in my offside stirrup to keep her balanced in such a small space.

I can also see how crooked I'm riding.

And you can see how heavy she is on the forehand at the canter.  But four canter strides along the short side of the arena does not an adequately sized arena make!

We did manage to get outside for a brief ride afterwards, when the winds died down to about 40 mph.

I'll show you that video if I can ever get it to upload.  I think it's a good comparison video--she's being ridden with no contact and behaving herself pretty well despite all the wind in her face.  I'm not really putting her together at all, just letting her motor around.

Please check back by soon to view the outside arena video!

ETA:  Here's the outdoor video--at times I did feel like I was going to be blown right out of the saddle.  I'll try to get an angle next time that shows more of the arena.