Due to lack of material (I took a break from my horsey life to spend an awesome long weekend in Aspen skiing with a group of amazing friends) I have decided to jump on the blog hop bandwagon and discuss who can ride my horse. Lots of equestrian bloggers have been doing this as well, a few that come to mind are Amanda, Lisa, and the originator of the trend- Olivia. Anyone else I missed, please comment with a link to yours as well!

But really, who can ride Rio?

Since Rio is turning 6 this year, I can’t really use his age as a blanket excuse anymore. Most 6 year old horses are pretty dang broke… but not mine! Rio is behind for his age- predominately due to being started late due to his massive size (17.3!) and only worked lightly with lots of time off to accommodate growth spurts. When I tried him prior to buying him late June of last year- I couldn’t get him to pick up his right lead, circling was a strug (and by circling I mean like a large circle), and the canter basically felt like an unbalanced hand gallop. He was pretty dang green- to no fault of his own or the trainer I got him from; he just had not had enough rides at that point in his life. I have currently owned him 8 1/2 months- almost 4 ish of which he has been off/on stall rest at times. All in all, from the history I got from the seller and with what I have actually ridden him- I think if you added up all his training to this point, it would maybe be equivalent to a year’s worth.