AJ is about 15, I'm not sure if he's a thoroughbred or appendix, but something along those lines -- tall (maybe 16hh) and lanky and thin-skinned. He is a light bay with a blaze and no other markings. He's also a cranky "old" man (I say "old" because 15 really isn't old!).
C seems to think he really likes me, because when we start out, he is soft and energetic, ears forward, etc. He doesn't really start to show attitude until we start jumping, and I think that is partially excitement and partially, hey, I know my job, stay out of my way.
Over the last few months, he's been my primary ride on Thursday evenings. I feel like I've gotten to know him and his quirks and he's really starting to listen to where I feel like the distances are, instead of adding in a short stride right before the fence. He'll still save his own butt, if I'm way off, which I appreciate, but I also truly appreciate that he is letting me find my distances 9/10 times, instead of taking over and doing his own thing.
Beau was an 8 year old, grey something or other. I would guess quarter horse. I believe he was started western pleasure (maybe someone with more experience in that discipline could confirm) because his cues were very much inside-rein heavy, where most english horses you ride inside leg to outside hand. The one time I rode Beau, I had to really remind myself to keep my outside rein with a loop in it, because if I didn't, he sped up. Even over fences. It was pretty different for me.
He was a good ride, lots of fun and lots of personality. Just a happy-go-lucky kind of young horse. Unfortunately, I only got to ride him once because he was sold a couple of weeks later.
Viktor is a ginormous thoroughbred. He's an easy 17hh, maybe even a little taller. (I didn't realize he was so big until I was standing beside him in the grooming stall on Tuesday.) I would guess he's in his mid-teens like AJ, but I'm not sure.
I didn't get to ride AJ because he had a fresh cut just behind the girth area on his right side, and when I showed it to C, she was like, oh great, that must be from his last lesson. Not good. But anyway, she put me on Viktor instead.
He has a huge stride and is pretty comfortable and easy going. It took me most of the lesson to get my "feel" -- I had to check my diagonals at first, which I rarely ever have to do, because I had so much training years ago on getting them by feel. And, we didn't do much jumping, just a 6 or 7 stride line of small verticals a few times in each direction. We sort of bombed them to the right. He sucks back a bit before he jumps, and I needed more leg, especially since we were going away from home. It was better to the left, heading home, and we actually needed to slow down a bit in between. But, I found my distances in both directions and felt like I stayed with him and had a really nice, clean release.
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