Best is turning out to be quite the riding horse. When we came back from Kentucky I brought my saddle and bridle with us. Since then, bit by bit, I've been getting on him more and more. I haven't ridden with any consistency since 2003, primarily because I kept getting hurt. Best is extremely patient with me. I have a three-tier step stool that I use to just slide into the saddle. When I'm getting off him, he'll stand patiently while I move the steps around to get better alignment. While I don't think we're going to win any ridding classes anytime soon we are having fun, or at least I am.
Blinkers are Best's security blanket. When I first started ridding him he was very hesitant about everything, if I rode him in his driving bridle then he was more confident. So I started line driving him without blinkers and riding him just for short periods. He's really coming along now and relaxing much more. However, Best is definitely a city horse. Since we got my stirrups straightened out we've made a ton of progress and we did our first ride out to the very back hay field recently. Mailboxes, trash cans, flags are all okay, rabbits are tolerated, but frogs who croak suddenly, well, they're scary without blinkers. He's very good about not spooking out from under me or trying to run but sometimes his body language just shouts OMG Nature!
We'll continue to take it slow - building up his back muscles, my leg muscles and our overall confidence - but we're taken the first steps and I'd love to have him as a ride and drive horse for next year.
