As Written By Amity-
I’ve been riding cricket for 11 years now. We did pony club and lots of jumping together at first, and then as we both got older, I wanted to try tackless riding and learn more about horsemanship and training. That's how I met Tori, because it was the only clinic I knew of where you could ride bareback and bridle-less.
During our pony club years, Cricket would have a little pigroot here and there but nothing major. He was incredibly gracious considering how poorly his saddle fit and how much I was asking of him.
Over time, he started bucking and rearing more and more. At first I treated it as him being spicy, and I loved it. But he got angrier and angrier. Eventually I couldn’t even get him into a canter, with him rearing up and refusing to move.
I assumed he didn’t want to ride anymore, so we stopped and played together on the ground instead.
Years later, after returning from a year of travel, Cricket had lost quite a bit of weight and muscle during a really dry summer (after being obese most of his life).
I have always told Cricket he has to live until 40, and considering he’s only halfway there, I was stressed!
Randomly, buying some waler fillies put me back in contact with Tori, so we started doing lessons, and I've practised most days with Cricket since maybe May this year.
I rode Cricket once at the start of our lessons to move paddocks. We rode for about 1 km, and he seemed really forward and excited, so I asked for a little canter; he completely jacked up, reared up, and wouldn't move forward at all.
After about 4 months of doing in hand with him, I needed his help finding a horse that had gotten out, so I hopped on him again and rode the same path.
This time, when he trotted, his head wasn’t so jammed up; it was relaxed, not braced.
I asked him for the canter at the same spot from 4 months earlier where he reared, and I got 5 of the most beautiful and smooth canter strides I think he has ever done, and I immediately got off him!
Cricket also had some very asymmetrical, wonky growth in his feet, and over time, with the in-hand work, he is wearing more evenly.
My big goal with Cricket is to trail ride him again and, hopefully, have him comfortably canter on the straight.
But my main goal is for Cricket to be happy and healthy so he can be the “stallion” of his herd for 20 more years.
