Getting used to Stanford

On Tuesday my trainer Meg took Cash out for his first ride at Stanford. Meg is my crash test dummy and when we were looking at horses up in Seattle/Canada, she rode every horse we tried before I did. That way she could tell me which ones I really shouldn't get on - I have a habit of grabbing on tightly with my legs when I'm nervous, which has the not surprising side effect of making most horses go faster, and this is a bit of a vicious circle. I like my horses quiet and a little behind the leg - stopping is important to me and I would much rather work on getting horses forward. I put this down to being on my side of 30 and knowing how hard it can hurt when you hit the ground!

Cash was, of course, wonderful. He wasn't spooky, and acted as if he had been at Stanford for years. Just to show how obsessed I am with this horse, here are two short videos of him trotting and cantering :)



The only think that surprised him was the mirror at the dressage arena. But after a few minutes of admiring himself he was happy to move on and since then he doesn't even seem to notice it anymore.