Responsible horse owners

Yesterday I decided that responsible horse owners don't sit at home and write blog posts all day when there is a trailer to unpack.  Responsible horse owners don't watch whole seasons of supernatural episodes on the couch when horse hooves need trimming.  Responsible horse owners absolutely don't take covert naps when their horse needs turn out (I don't worry about turn out except for the first 7 or 10 days post ride.  In which case I'll do it, or I pay someone else to do it.  Lessons learned from Tevis 2010....).

So.  I compromised.  And Farley and I went on a bareback, in-a-halter, I-might-have-been-in-a-helmet, but-definitely-I-was-bare-foot ride. 

I closed my eyes, raised my hands in the air, and BREATHED. 

I looked like a demented hippie doing yoga.  On horse back. At 2pm in the afternoon.  On the most humid day I've ever experienced in CA.  

Farley walked some, trotted some, but mostly just walked. 

For 20 minutes I focused on nothing else but breathing and being centered and balanced and straight.  Which is surprisingly hard to do with your hands in front of you on the reins. 

So I didn't use the reins. 

I knotted the reins in her hair so she wouldn't get caught up in them if they shifted to the side and decided that the worst that would happen is that I would slide off her back into the soft dirt if she did something stupid.  Which being bareback isn't that far. 

I still love riding bareback.  Even as an adult, knowing that I no longer bounce as well as I used to.  Even after getting quality instruction in the saddle and KNOWING how to use the tack to my advantage, NOTHING quite soothes my soul as well as going bareback.  Because sometimes being a responsible horse owner is being able to put away the shoulds and oughts and embracing what is right for that moment.