Moshi, one of the Graham 27, had her first rides here at SAFE recently. From the first few times working with her, we had a feeling this little mare was going to make it easier on us than some. And this isn’t to say that there are not always challenges (both standard and unique) that accompany each horse we start here, but it seemed that with Moshi, said challenges would be rather manageable. Here you can see the first ride or two Casey A and Joel put on Moshi.
As is quite standard for first rides, the rider is meant simply to go with the horse as they learn what it is like to carry both a person and a saddle on their backs. The use of a flagger on the ground is meant to encourage the horse forward without a lot of effort from the person riding. The rider cues with their seat, but ideally is just going along with the horse as they move out.
First rides are not meant to be long. They are just supposed to be short, positive experiences that can be used as building blocks for subsequent rides. The goal is to get the horse to move out, come down off a feel (and practice a one-rein stop), and work on a little hindquarters / frontquarters from the saddle. Moshi checked all these boxes with relative ease. We are really excited about this mare’s future as a nice little riding horse for someone!
