Bareback PPL --- and A Surprise!!!

Funny Story..

Well, just wanted to share what happened today - maybe other's have been there. We went for a ride today and were working on Pushing Passenger. I was reveling in it - we never got a chance to do PP before moving to this barn and I really like how relaxing, fun and free it is.

This was only our second ride in the round corral and it was a big improvement from last time. [Last time, Cloud realized that it made me nervous when he walked close enough to the rail to scrape me off. Needless to say, we worked a lot on comfort/discomfort on that and today it was *much* better!]

Anyway, I was enjoying the ride, totally in harmony, and loving the bareback pad (it was a *great* buy!). I was trying to do it right - look where he looks, bend when he bends, stop when he stops & then go again. I knew how annoying it is for me to keep bugging him when he puts his head down to graze, so I tried to be good about it. I was *determined* to remain a Passenger until after he stopped and to *not* pester or annoy him. So, when he put his head down, I simply put mine down too. It's really nice to be in harmony! He walked around with his nose down for some time until -

- He got down on his knees to roll!!! Imagine my surprise! I had thought he was grazing, and here he was preparing to roll. But there wasn't time for shock - this horse was rolling whether I was there to break his fall or not. My biggest concern was that I get my leg out from where he was going to go - a broken leg would have been *so* inconvenient - and then roll out of his way.

Fortunately all went according to plan and I'm fine. Cloud was very disappointed that (after all that) he didn't get to roll, but I didn't want my $250 pad ruined! Looking back on it, though, I'm so impressed with myself that I didn't flip out or get scared. After all I've been through, I spook easily - but this didn't even phase me! It was just another extention, more or less, of the PP lesson. Really, it was kind of fun! (OK, I wouldn't want to do it every day, but it was kinda cool... )


((Too funny!!))