Model

Yesterday, a former student asked if I would be her model for a photo shoot. She’s gotten really into photography lately, and I think she’s getting better and better every day. Coincidentally, this former student’s father owns the horse ranch where Aswan works. So this photo shoot involved horses! My only instructions were to wear cowboy clothes. She said she had a hat and boots at the ranch that I could borrow. The hat ended up being more of an Australian shepherd’s hat, and the boots were just some worn – but very comfortable – riding boots. I told her that I can’t ride English and that no saddle at all would be alright with me. The groom who got the horse ready for me thought I was pretty crazy, but he helped me mount anyways. It felt weird! I don’t think I’ve ridden for almost 5 years by now! But it’s like riding a bike, and I was surprised how comfortable I was on the horse.

That last one… They kept telling me to hug the horse! I think I really worked it. By about that time, I had not one but THREE photographers and a bit of an audience too. I just kept hoping I wouldn’t fall off the horse. My main photographer asked me to have the horse trot. That presented a problem. These horses are trained for dressage. And I don’t know how to post. Especially not without a saddle. But I also have no idea how to ride with an English saddle. These poor horses – I think I just confused them, because I was definitely riding Western. They ended up deciding to have me ride one of the “aggressive” horses with a saddle on. That made me nervous, but it ended up that he was eating (whew), so they had me ride one of the smaller, slightly blind horses instead. So once again, with the last of the light fading, I mounted up. Riding English feels REALLY awkward when you’ve spent your whole life riding Western. And I about got dumped a couple of times. And I’m pretty sure my trot was me flopping ungracefully all over the horse the first few times. But I eventually got it down. And we got these pictures:

It was really fun to get out there and ride. And I have an open invitation to come back and ride whenever I like. So that’s pretty sweet!

*All photo and edit credits go to Jacqueline Gabriella!*