As a horse trots, gallops, climbs and descends a hill, the cinch gets loose. The cinch is the contraption that goes under the belly of the horse that holds the saddle on tight. If you don't get a tight grip on the cinch, you will no doubt end up on the ground instead of on the horse. Being alert as to the condition of the cinch is important! Lesson 3 was how to mount and dismount the horse and adjust your stirrups. The stirrups are also attached to the saddle and must be adjusted to the length of your legs. Especially when the horse descends a steep hill or trots I found myself literally standing in the stirrups and not actually sitting on my horse! If your feet can not fit snugly into the stirrups you can loose control of your balance and the horse! To mount the horse seemed like a strange thing at first. We were instructed to grab a hank of the horse's mane and stick our left foot into the stirrup, hoist ourselves up into the stirrup, throw our right leg over the saddle and mount. Pulling on the saddle or saddle horn to mount was strictly forbidden. If Wrangler Scott saw you do that, you'd have to leave. Mounting the horse is always done on the right side of the horse. The left side of the horse is for adjusting a stirrup or ties but we were told never to mount on the left side. Even going behind the horse was to be done by keeping your hand on the horse's back and hugging yourself close to the horse to let him know you were there. An unexpected horse would mean an unexpected kick. When we were all mounted we had to instruct our horses to "go"........... _______ To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Eat the hay & spit out the sticks! - A#1's mule" RTKB&G4JC! http://rangernet.org Autoresponder: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
