Centered in the Saddle

Duke was at a horse show with his other half-leaser last weekend, so I got to borrow my friend/teammate, K’s amazing horse, Enzo. He’s an OTTB with major talent. Most definitely the fanciest eventer I’ve sat on. Trainer B’s horse takes that honor for fanciest dressage horse. (Don’t tell Duke any of this.)

He was a ton of fun! Trainer B calls him a sports car. Which is accurate. A little throttle goes a long way. (Or something. I don’t know about cars. Whatever HE’S COOL.)

It was a great opportunity for me to practice cross country on a horse I’m not familiar with. No leaning on bad habits. I got to focus on correct, safe riding.

Was it perfect? No. But it was a great learning opportunity and for the most part it was wonderful! The lovely thing is that Enzo has a lot of horsepower (heh, heh) but he’s not naughty. He just gets so excited to be jumping all the things! He’s kind of an overachiever. Since we were at a very small schooling venue, I simply focused on keeping him more relaxed.

It was a different ride than I’m used to. With Duke, it’s very much about creating the energy and he’s more of a push ride. With Enzo, the energy was just right there, so it was more about channeling it and keeping a lid on it.

I’m extremely grateful to be mostly a one-horse gal at the moment, given that much of my adult riding career has been about catching rides where I could. But I do love how much you can learn by riding different horses so I am I am thankful for friends who will loan out their ponies to me for an evening!