After the horse I took care of was sold last August I took a break in riding, also because I was in Sweden for half a year. In january I started looking for a new horse. Meanwhile I was riding the pony of a friend, but it just wasn't the right thing for me. I like ponies, but I much prefer bigger horses. My trainer then told me a woman in her stables was looking for someone to take care of her mare once in a week. Since I'll start my aprenticeship next week this was perfect for me. The owner usually is away on the weekends and I only have time on the weekend. So we made an appointment and I met Jantina. She's a Friesian horse, an old breed from northern Germany/Danmark/Netherlands. She's 17 years old and very nice and gentle. Her owner told me she had been mistreated very badly by her former owner when she was still a foal (being hit on the legs and left staving without food for days). She doesn't like men, but to me she's a nice and very calm girl. Now I already ride her since July and we take lessons in soft horse riding (a method where you do dressage but very gentle without anything brutal) and she loves it. She had lots of problems with her back before I started riding her, because her old saddle didn't fit and hurt her, but now she has a new saddle and she can build new muscles on her back.
That's Jantina before we went to work
During our lesson. She had much trouble keeping her head down so her back would get more muscles, but we improved a lot. In this picture she is trotting like she should. 6 weeks of work finally pay of and her back gets stronger from week to week and she starts to trust me.
After work she's getting a treat. Good girl!
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