Windsor - take three

[alobear]

Saturday was the third Windsor Great Park hack, and I think everyone would agree that it was a big improvement on the last one!

It was an interesting experience for me, as I learned a lot about Kiara, the horse I rode the first time round.  She's the kind of horse you could ride forever and still not know everything about, and I look forward to riding her again.  For the first few canter stretches, I spent the whole time sawing on her mouth, trying to hold her back.  I could tell she was frustrated, but I didn't want to cause a stampede.

I took an opportunity part way round to talk to Lee, one of our escorts, and she had lots of helpful information about Kiara, which I put to good use for the rest of the ride.  Lee said that Kiara responds more to the seat and the voice than she does to the reins, and I tested this out in walk by trying to get her to move to the edge of the path just by shifting my weight.  It worked like a dream.

So, for the really long canter stretch towards the end (when all the horses were starting to get a bit overexcited), I tried the second tactic of talking to Kiara, rather than pulling on the reins.  This worked really well, too, and she went much more steadily, without me having to pull too hard.

My shoulders are still really sore - Kiara's a very strong horse and likes to get her own way - but I'll know for next time that there are easier ways to stop her carreering off and overtaking everyone.

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