My Riding Life

Ever since I first rode a horse, when I was only 2 years old, it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I started riding a tiny, fluffy Shetland pony called Sooty, my mums friends daughter  had outgrown him so we were allowed to ride him at there local stables. He was the sweetest boy but has now moved on to pony heaven. After Sooty unfortunate died we didn’t have anywhere to go riding until we found our savior, 4Gaits Riding School.

The first time we went to 4Gaits was amazing I was put on the slowest pony in the world called Pride, she would avoid trotting poles in walk she really hated moving. After around 3 month of having lessons my sisters and I were able to trot of the lead rein but it was getting too expensive for my parents to pay for all 3 of us to ride once every 2weeks. One day, around Christmas, my mum announced that we were going to loan a pony called Taz.  Taz is a cheeky Dartmoor pony  from southern Devon. His breed (Dartmoor ponies) live on the mountains of Devon.

My mum used to ride so she thought she could teach  my sisters and I what she knows (and still is today). Firstly, she helped us improve our trot and made it a bit more complicated. Next, we were starting to canter, the first place I started to canter was on the gallops at 4Gaits. Cantering was hard to establish and it kept us sweating day after day  until we finished our journey of cantering. Finally, we are  jumping first we started doing trot jumps (the most uncomfortable way) but  we have moved onto jumping in canter which is so much more comfortable in my opinion. I wonder were my horse riding  journey will take me next?

Written and illustrated by Emily Skipper