Practice on Tornado

Now that Sabina has had a proper lesson, we need to practice her skills on Tornado.

I help her brush and saddle up. Then she just puts her foot in the stirrup and gets on. I put the reins in her hands, and expect that we will now do a similar set of exercises on the lounge as in the lesson. But no. Sabina has other ideas.

She gives Tornado a kick, then pulls him up to a stop. Then another kick, a few strides, then stop. She turns his head and rides him towards me.

"Now mama", she says, "to the state forest."

I clip a lead rope on, and off we go, to the state forest. But this time around, I am almost dispensable. Every time Tornado stops to take a look, Sabina kicks and kicks until he gets going again. The rein work is somewhat rough, but effective.

We have a great time chatting.