Ernie...

Ernie is one of the Woodloch schoolies and I have ridden him twice now in group lessons. Getting on Ernie the first time was terrifying, more mentally than anything. It was as close to going back to that first day riding as I ever want to get. I had completely unnerved myself and as a result the first ride really wasn't a whole lot of fun. I spent the hour working on not throwing up and fighting with my saddle.
 
The big lessons I took from my first ride on Ernie were:
 
1) Saddle matters, A LOT! I had decided to try riding Ernie in a school saddle (since mine was in the other barn) and I regretted that decision from the word go. I bought myself a new saddle this past October and finally having the right fit was something I took for granted, until not riding in it. My seat changed drastically when I was in a saddle I wasnt comfortable in. I will be taking my saddle to Atlanta no matter how much work that creates for me.
 
2) I didn't die as expected. While I did feel less coordinated than I do on Joker I did well. I was able to walk, trot, lope. I could ride the pattern and there were no major blunders.
 
3) I take Joker and how much he has become part of me for granted. When I started leasing Joker his owner told me a time would come where he felt like an extension of my body, I didn't see it happening, but riding Ernie I realized how much Joker and I have bonded and how much he has become like that worn comfy t-shirt to me. Even when he is challenging me and we have a different agenda, I still know how he feels, I know how he thinks, I know his cues and he knows mine. We really are a team. And I missed him a lot being on another horse.
 
4) The things I loved about riding Ernie are sthe same things I hated about riding him. Ernie is broke, really really broke. He goes where you tell him, he doesn't want to have a vote in decisions or have to really think them through. Joker on the other hand while broke still wants to be part of the decision making process some days. Things distract him (especially food things), he is never a horse who will tell me no, but he will ask to have a vote. There are moments when that really frustrates me and I just want him to play along, but while I was riding Ernie I missed that level of thinking in the horse and the energy Joker puts behind things. It was fun for an hour to ride something so push button, but I know it wouldn't make me happy long. I like my horse with a little more, well...horse... still in him.
 

The second ride on Ernie went a LOT better than the first. I brought my own saddle, I had overcome some of my nerves, I had just ridden Joker two hours before and I was excited about the ride instead of dreading it. It was fun to have a comparison of the two horses so close together.

The big lessons I took from my second ride were:

1) Horses move very differently. I had expected how different their minds are, but was really shocked how different Ernie felt. He has much more of a side to side motion than Joker does, I could feel much more pronounced each leg moving. Joker has longer smoother strides where Ernie has shorter strides and is more pronounced in his movements.

2) I need to figure my seat out. Joker has learned me, he has learned to work with my seat issues, he has learned my cues. Ernie I was just confusing the poor horse. My changing my seat to fix my balance kept meaning stop to him. I will say that it was a great experience for me to learn to work more with my seat because he was so point and go.

At the end of it all, Ernie made me realize I am excited to ride other horses and that this lesson is as much about their differences as it is building my confidence and squashing my fears.