Lesson on Mo

 Monday, I had a lesson on Mo so I cold try her out. Mo is one of the lesson horses but is used as often as Ginger and Reno because she is faster and can be intimidating to new riders, and most riders get a horse of their own before they are experienced enough to rider. Fortunately, I am not intimidated by speed and Meghan says I rode very well. In fact someone watching thought I had been riding for a much longer than a year when she saw me. My year riding anniversary is in November.

 Mo is a small Thoroughbred but has very large for her small size. She is trained in 3rd level dressage yet also did some eventing, which may explain why her riders often need to constantly half halt when riding her, especially over jumps. I walked her around for several minutes, trying to get used to her. Then, I asked for the trot. Mo has a nice, forward trot. While riding her I use half halts to balance her and to keep her tempo consistent. She even began to get a bit round without me really trying to ask for. Very different than Chester!

 Once I had trotted in both directions, I made a small circle to the right, her easiest direction to move, to prepare for the canter. Her canter is really big, stretched out, and fast so I needed to keep a small circle to have more control. The first time, I lost my stirrup, my the next time went very well. The first thing I noticed was how easy her canter is to sit, and how fast it. I rode quite a few circles before returning to the trot and then walk.

Leaning forward a bit

 After a lot of walking I made a circle left to ask for canter left. Mo isn't always good about cantering left, but she really aims to please and picked up the right lead canter heading left instead. She doesn't feel uncomfortable to ride, nor does she move to the right when she picks up the wrong lead, but I could tell she hadn't hadn't picked up the correct lead. I could feel that the canter felt very collected though. I returned to trot and tried again. Mo again picked up the wrong lead so Meghan decided not to push it because Mo hadn't been worked to much recently.

 Mo is fun. I love fast horses as long as I can control them, and Mo knows a lot of things. I'm still talking over with my parents to see what decision is best. I like the idea of getting my own horse soon, yet if possible I'd rather learn more to get a younger horse that can stay with me a while and even move up several levels with me. I don't know what will happen yet but I will keep you updated.