Horsing Around

Photo by Rison Naness

Usually, I'm all business when it comes to riding. Usually. This weekend I did some horsing around. On Saturday, I rode my friends old horse, Sly (see right), bareback.

I hadn't ridden bareback since my jumper days, and it felt great to just get on and mess around. Back when my parents and I still lived in Austria I would do things like that all the time. I rode a little black and white pony, who I would fall off at least once a week, and my friends and I were always getting on without saddles, trying to keep our balance as we jumped over cavalettis. Before that, even, my friend and I used to double up on her pony bareback. We were both so small that we could fit comfortably onto her mare's back together. In fact, I doubt she even realized there were two people sitting on her instead of just one!

Riding Sly on Saturday brought back all those memories, and reminded me why the seven year old Stella wanted to take up riding in the first place - to have fun with the horses. And I still do. Little did I know then that dressage would become my passion!