Bella

I got to ride the new girl yesterday. Her name is Bella, and she is AMAZING.
I'll tell you right now that this entire post is going to be about her, so if you're not interested in hearing about this great horse, I'll understand if you don't read it. Most people will have, like, no clue what I'm talking about. So yeah.
Right.
So, we're on our lunch break, with twenty or so minutes to go. Shelley pokes her head our from the barn, and asks to see me. A knot twisting in my stomach, I hop down from the vaulting dummy we were all perched on, and follow her back inside.
She quickly assures me that I'm not in trouble; she just wants to show me who I'm riding. I let out the breath I realized I had been holding.
As we walk, I glance over to Riley, in his new stall. He had injured his two front legs, leaving us with one less lesson horse/jumper. Poor Riley! I think he'll be okay, though.
Butanyways.
Shelley leads me deeper into the barn, confusing me further. Was I riding Cookie again? But I had already ridden her before--why would I need to be introduced?
Shelley stops before the stall of a horse I quickly recognize as the new girl, Bella.
"This is Bella," Shelley says, confirming my thoughts. "You're riding her today."
We go into the tack room, and she shows me Bella's tack: Simon's bridle, the bounce pad, Melissa's saddle, and a fluffy girth.
Shelley goes into the office, leaving me to finish the lunch that I had forgotten to pack, it being early in the morning. Oops. Oh, well. I wasn't all that hungry, anyways, and I got some scraps.
First, however, I take a baby carrot from the treat box, and go over to feed it to her. Since it is rather hard--and a bit dangerous--to stick your hands through the bars in a stall there, I put in down on the top of the solid part on the lower half of the door, in between two bars. Bella tries to get it, but knocked to the floor. She looked at me with those sweet eyes, as if saying, "Well, what did you do that for?"
I went and got her another carrot, which she ate gladly.
After our break was over--and after reassuring the others that I wasn't in trouble--we got tacked up. Then, Riley (the girl, not the horse) and Kate (who she was riding--I love Kate!), and Bella and I warmed up for twenty or so minutes, while we waited for the other girl to come and get Song ready. Then Shelley came out, and the lesson began.
I quickly discovered, during our extended warm up, that Bella needs to be steered in the right direction, she can have a fast walk when she wants to, though she usually doesn't, that she likes the rail when she figures out what she's doing, that she has a very sensitive mouth, and that she responds to my slightest touch, whether with the reins or my legs.
We trotted around for a while. Posting, at first. I found out that she has a very quick trot, and the concept of "pacing yourself" means nothing to her.
When Shelley told us to go into twopoint (still at the trot), Bella tried to canter, and tripped up a bit. I stuck with posting (on Shelley's instruction, of course) for the rest of the lesson.
When we changed direction, I discovered that she doesn't do as well on a right rein. Her trot was uneven and rather bumpy. She got more used to it after a while.
Then, we did three loop serpentines at the trot, and cantered around once. The diagonal transition was hard for her again, but we managed. And she has a wonderful canter!
We trotted some more after that, then we stretched out and cooled down. As it turns out, Bella is only five!
She takes more time to cool down, because she wasn't as fit as the others.
Afterwards, I took her back to her stall to untack her, and took her back out to hose her off. She started pawing at the dirt like she was going to roll for a minute! But she didn't. Then, I walked her around in the pit a few dozen times, waiting for her to dry. xD
Finally, when everyone was in the middle of feeding, Shelley sent a girl to tell me to put Bella away. Some horse who had previously been in that stall had kicked the door or something so many times that it was all messed up. (Girl) Riley and I both had to lean on it really hard to get the bolt back in!
I helped finish up with the feeding, and we went in and completed the list of closing chores. Shelley went home, and we all sat outside for a while, eating the offered pomegranates. It was really fun. We opened then by hitting them really hard on the corner of a bench. I stained my riding pant, though. Dx Oh, well. They were already stained, anyways.
I was the last to be picked up. I went into the barn to check the time--4:30, half an hour past the official end. Oh, well. I like just sitting there.
When I came back out, my dad was waiting. I brought three and a half--I hadn't quite finished my original one--pomegranates home.
Yay!

Well, I'm hungry. No breakfast yet! ;o

Love,
Faye