She was ready to learn something new.
She found the two sidesaddles that belonged to the stable. One of them looked as if it would fit Belle better than the other, so she took that one with her back to Belle’s stall.
Belle gave Stevie a very funny look when she saw the saddle, but she behaved as well as she always did while Stevie tacked her up. Looking at her own handiwork, Stevie shook her head. It seemed very strange indeed. But then that was probably because neither she nor Belle was used to it.
“Come on, girl,” she said, clucking gently to the mare. “Let’s go someplace where nobody can see us and try out this contraption.”
Max had his class in the main schooling ring. That was what Stevie was hoping for, because it left the side paddock for her and Belle. She walked the horse out the side door, touching the good-luck horseshoe as she passed it. She had the feeling she was going to need it.
Maybe I’m being too pessimistic
, she told herself.
I’m smart and capable. And, after all, in the last twenty-four hours, I’ve changed my hairstyle, washed all my clothes, ironed a blouse, cleaned my riding helmet, and finished my homework. Could anything be impossible?
She drew Belle to a halt at the mounting block. Now came the first challenge. She thought about hermethod of attack. It wasn’t like sitting in a chair, but it wasn’t like climbing into a regular saddle, either. She’d seen Tiffani do it half a dozen times; she had even watched Lisa do it, but she had no idea how they’d managed.
“Nothing like simply trying,” she said to herself and to Belle, who looked back at her curiously. Stevie put her left foot in the stirrup, hiked herself up and back at the same time, and ended up in the dirt on the far side of a rather confused Belle.
Stevie stood up, dusted herself off to regain her dignity, and returned to the mounting block. It took a few more tries, none of which she thought would appear in any sidesaddle riding manuals, and finally worked out a sort of compromise that involved swinging her right leg up over Belle’s back end and then hiking it up over Belle’s withers to get her knee into the hook on the left side of the saddle. If the style was questionable, the result was not. Stevie was in the saddle, not the dirt.
It took a few seconds for her to adjust her weight in a way that made any sense to her. Rather than sitting into the saddle, she was more resting on it. That was going to change everything, and that was what learning something new was all about.
She gently flicked the reins to the right, and Belle obediently turned in that direction, but there was no forward movement.
Hmmm.
How could she tell themare to move ahead when she could only give her half a signal?
Normally the signal to walk came when a rider squeezed gently with her legs. Now all Stevie could do was squeeze Belle’s left side, because that was the only place she had any legs in this saddle.
She put pressure on Belle’s belly with her left leg. Belle moved to the right. That was perfectly logical. Horses had a natural inclination to move away from pressure, and they were trained to follow that inclination. Stevie tried again, and Belle did the same thing.
“Okay, girl,” Stevie said gently but firmly. “We’re playing with different rules today, okay? And the trouble is that neither of us knows what they are.”
Stevie decided she should try to equalize the pressure by using her riding crop on the horse’s right side. She didn’t slap Belle or anything, but when she used her leg on one side, she pressed her crop against Belle’s belly on the other. It might not have been what the proper sidesaddle rider would do, but Belle understood what she wanted. They moved forward.
“Whew,” said Stevie.
And that was the way the whole hour went. Every time Stevie tried one signal, Belle misunderstood it until Stevie figured out a way to equalize her signals. Within the hour, she’d figured out how to get
She found the two sidesaddles that belonged to the stable. One of them looked as if it would fit Belle better than the other, so she took that one with her back to Belle’s stall.
Belle gave Stevie a very funny look when she saw the saddle, but she behaved as well as she always did while Stevie tacked her up. Looking at her own handiwork, Stevie shook her head. It seemed very strange indeed. But then that was probably because neither she nor Belle was used to it.
“Come on, girl,” she said, clucking gently to the mare. “Let’s go someplace where nobody can see us and try out this contraption.”
Max had his class in the main schooling ring. That was what Stevie was hoping for, because it left the side paddock for her and Belle. She walked the horse out the side door, touching the good-luck horseshoe as she passed it. She had the feeling she was going to need it.
Maybe I’m being too pessimistic
, she told herself.
I’m smart and capable. And, after all, in the last twenty-four hours, I’ve changed my hairstyle, washed all my clothes, ironed a blouse, cleaned my riding helmet, and finished my homework. Could anything be impossible?
She drew Belle to a halt at the mounting block. Now came the first challenge. She thought about hermethod of attack. It wasn’t like sitting in a chair, but it wasn’t like climbing into a regular saddle, either. She’d seen Tiffani do it half a dozen times; she had even watched Lisa do it, but she had no idea how they’d managed.
“Nothing like simply trying,” she said to herself and to Belle, who looked back at her curiously. Stevie put her left foot in the stirrup, hiked herself up and back at the same time, and ended up in the dirt on the far side of a rather confused Belle.
Stevie stood up, dusted herself off to regain her dignity, and returned to the mounting block. It took a few more tries, none of which she thought would appear in any sidesaddle riding manuals, and finally worked out a sort of compromise that involved swinging her right leg up over Belle’s back end and then hiking it up over Belle’s withers to get her knee into the hook on the left side of the saddle. If the style was questionable, the result was not. Stevie was in the saddle, not the dirt.
It took a few seconds for her to adjust her weight in a way that made any sense to her. Rather than sitting into the saddle, she was more resting on it. That was going to change everything, and that was what learning something new was all about.
She gently flicked the reins to the right, and Belle obediently turned in that direction, but there was no forward movement.
Hmmm.
How could she tell themare to move ahead when she could only give her half a signal?
Normally the signal to walk came when a rider squeezed gently with her legs. Now all Stevie could do was squeeze Belle’s left side, because that was the only place she had any legs in this saddle.
She put pressure on Belle’s belly with her left leg. Belle moved to the right. That was perfectly logical. Horses had a natural inclination to move away from pressure, and they were trained to follow that inclination. Stevie tried again, and Belle did the same thing.
“Okay, girl,” Stevie said gently but firmly. “We’re playing with different rules today, okay? And the trouble is that neither of us knows what they are.”
Stevie decided she should try to equalize the pressure by using her riding crop on the horse’s right side. She didn’t slap Belle or anything, but when she used her leg on one side, she pressed her crop against Belle’s belly on the other. It might not have been what the proper sidesaddle rider would do, but Belle understood what she wanted. They moved forward.
“Whew,” said Stevie.
And that was the way the whole hour went. Every time Stevie tried one signal, Belle misunderstood it until Stevie figured out a way to equalize her signals. Within the hour, she’d figured out how to get
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