First Ride"When life puts you in tough positions, don't say "Why me?" , just say "Try me!" And that is exactly what I did.
Training a Neravontii isn't easy, I know that. But I could never imagine the difficulty that came with training a powerful but childlike stallion with a personality of his own. David is quirky and unpredictable, I know that, but how does he suppose a human to remember all of his millions of quirks? For example, when putting on a saddle, we must let David hold it first. When giving him carrots, he likes them to be chopped up, more specifically, 4cm cubes, served in his favourite Mickey Mouse bowl. When grooming, we must groom the tail first, before starting on the head and working downwards. But of this, and many many more quirks are nothing, when I discovered what I had to do to be able to ride him (sort of...).
It started of as a usual day. I prepare David's treats and head off to his stall. I greet him with a pat on the top right of his eye, and he snorts in approval. I hold out his riding equipment so he can touch it and after he 'inspects' it, I allow him his treat and begun putting on the riding gear. Once completed, I place his Mickey Mouse bowl, with left over none 4cm cubed carrots, to the side and lead David out of his stall. David tosses his head in excitement as he picks up his pace towards the training arena. We no longer need to train him in water, but every now and then, we reward David with a pool cool down just to relax. David loves the pool, so you can imagine excitement when I turned towards the pool. He jumps from left to right until we reach the pool. After he calms down a little, I lead him in and begin our usual training. My stable hand first walks David 2 laps in the water to work his energy off. Once he is calm, I take him for a swim in the deep end. Then I lead him back to the shallow end put some of my weight on him, using my hand. David didn't even flinch as he continued blow bubbles into the water. Sensing an opportunity, I quickly hope onto David's back. My movement startled him, but he didn't seem to mind. Finally, when I settle into the saddle, I decide to lead him around a little. However, that's when the unexpected happened. David begun hoping and jump, throwing me off balance and onto one side. He kept swing his body in slow but strong movements whiles I desperately clung onto the saddle, knowing that if I fell off, I'd probably never able to get on again. Finally, David seems satisfied with himself and stops once again. It was then that I noticed I'm, belly facing down, laying across the saddle side ways. I try to readjust my position, but every time I move from this position, David moves, leaving me back at the starting point, until finally, I realized something. David wants me to stay in this position when I ride him. It is the only way he would allow me onto his back, saddle or not. With this quirk in mind, I decided it's best to let him off for now and think of a new strategy. In the mean time, I'm still proud of both David and I for accomplishing such a difficult goal, even if really, it was quite unsuccessful.