Chapter 15: Old Thomas's Riding Lesson
The next day, when Ju'an woke up, it was already six o'clock, and he hurriedly washed up, put on riding boots, put on a cowboy hat, changed into a plaid shirt, and replaced the belt buckle on his waist with a shiny buckle given by the harness shop, looked in the mirror for a while, and then made a few gun pulling movements, feeling that he really had a bit of a cowboy style.
After a few words of praise to the handsome guy in the mirror, he hurriedly ran downstairs.
When they arrived at the stable, Nancy and Wynne were already brushing their horses, Juan greeted them embarrassedly, and then Nancy taught Juan how to brush horses.
Nancy grabbed a chestnut mare and picked up a brush: "Use it first, brush with stiff bristles, pay attention to the circular brush, you can brush off the dirt and dirt of the horse's hair, you need to use some force, but don't push too hard, look at me like this" said as she demonstrated to Ju An.
Ju An tried it for a while and sweated, this is not an easy job.
"Relax, boss, your body is too stiff, yes, just do it a few more times in the future, you can brush two horses like this and you won't be able to lift your hands tomorrow" Nancy looked at Ju'an's stiff body and smiled.
"After brushing with a stiff brush, use a soft-bristled brush for a second time, and be careful not to use a stiff-bristled brush when brushing the horse's face, but to use a soft-bristled brush," Nancy continued.
Ju An stood aside and nodded from time to time like a primary school student, with a serious face.
After brushing a horse under Nancy's teaching, Nancy gave Juan a green horse to brush.
Hard-bristled brush, soft-bristled brush, Ju An's mouth kept muttering about the essentials of Nancy's prompt just now, holding the horse's neck with one hand, holding the brush with the other, brushing.
I felt a slight itch on my back, turned my head, and saw the big green horse with big eyes, looking at Ju'an, and then, the horse's head gently rubbed against his back, his eyes flashed with intimacy, and suddenly, the soreness all over his body did not know where to go, turned around and gently hugged the neck of the big green horse, patted his palm gently, and even felt the hot air spewing out of the horse's nose on his back.
"Boss, it likes you" At some point, Nancy was already beside her.
Ju An looked at Nancy and scratched his head embarrassedly: "I'm sorry."
"It's nothing, in fact, the ranch work is very hard, and the labor is not high, but I am willing to work in the ranch where the horses are raised, just because I can stay with these big guys" Nancy gently stroked the bridge of the nose of the big green horse: "Willing to ride it, looking at their eyes, all the fatigue is worth it, you are good to it, it feels it, and it will repay you, just like it gently rubbed your back just now, it is repaying you."
Juan looked at Nancy and said thank you, and continued to brush.
By the time the big green horse was finished, Nancy and Wynne had already finished brushing the rest of the horses.
By this time old Thomas had already inspected a circle of cattle and sheep and entered the stables.
"Ann, let's go to the training ground, let me see your riding skills, I'll use it today" Thomas pulled a chestnut mare with a little white star on his brow: "I picked this one in the morning, I just named it, how about Jefferson".
"Not a bad name," Juan nodded, and followed Thomas, who was leading Jefferson, to the stable door.
"You come and saddle it," Thomas said, patting the horse with his back to Juan.
Juan took the sweat pad from the shelf and put it on the horse's back.
"Well, try to move forward as far as possible, or it will be difficult to adjust at the back, and the saddle should be as far forward as possible, because it will be more laborious to pull forward then," Thomas pointed as he pulled the sweat pad forward.
When Juan threw the saddle onto the horse, old Thomas complimented: "The saddle is fine."
Quart is much taller than Mongolian horses, but fortunately Ju'an is 1.78 meters, or it is not easy to throw the saddle off the back of a horse with 1.6 meters.
Then he straightened the front belly strap step by step, and Thomas Sr. pointed out some tips in the whole process.
led Jefferson to the training ground, Ju An just wanted to get on, but was stopped by old Thomas: "Ann, Jefferson has not kept his balance yet, so its front legs should be half a step in front, by the way, that's it" Thomas gently poked the horse's belly with his hand, and Jefferson's left front leg took a small step forward.
"Well, now it's ready, it's important to pay attention to balance at all times," Thomas said solemnly.
Ju An just put his feet in the stirrups and wanted to get on the horse, "Don't put the whole foot in it, just put some in the forefoot, so that even if the horse is suddenly frightened, you can pull it out, and it is easy to be dragged by the horse when you put it in, so it is dangerous, and it should be like this when you get off the horse, although it is all small details that can sometimes save your life" Thomas demonstrated, saying.
After getting on the horse and gently knocking the horse's belly, Ju An felt what a well-trained ranch horse is.
A small movement, Jefferson already felt, and walked slowly on the sand.
"Keep your body vertical, peaceful, relaxed, the horse can feel your nervousness, if you are nervous the horse will also be nervous, be careful when you give instructions to the horse, be firm and make your horse feel it" Thomas said after walking a few steps.
With his chest and abdomen straight, Juan sat up straight at the request of old Thomas. The sitting is straight, but the movement is a little stiff.
"Alright, trot up," said Thomas.
Gently shook the reins, and as soon as his legs clamped the horse's belly, Jefferson trotted up, and Ju An squatted straight on the saddle, yes, Ju An can't be regarded as riding a horse now, but can only be regarded as a squatting horse, and the whole thing is a big horse step.
"Relax, relax, Ann, pay attention to the rhythm of the horse, follow its rhythm point, so that you save effort, pay attention to the strength of your waist and legs" Thomas saw Ju'an's nervousness, and said loudly later.
Slowly feeling the rhythm of Jefferson, relaxing his body, following its rhythm, Ju'an tossed up on horseback. It's still a bit stiff, but the essentials have been mastered.
Thomas complimented him twice, and Ju'an's mood became more relaxed.
Riding on Jefferson's back, one must not admire the horse's kung fu in training the horse in the horse farm, and he does not feel the horse's resistance to the reins at all.
After a few weeks of running around the training ground, Juan did a few more backwards at Thomas's behest.
After Juan got off the horse, Thomas came over and said to Juan: "Generally speaking, it's not bad, but it's not enough to work on the ranch, and you can practice in the next few days."
"Riding on a horse must be careful to let your horse feel you, don't let the horse bully you, each horse's temper and surname are different, ride on the horse your attitude must be resolute, give the horse instructions to be clear, and pay attention to the surroundings, sometimes a rag may startle the horse, and when running close to other horses, don't get too close, horses have a crowd of people, some horses do not want other horses to run in front of them, and they are not able to catch up, they tend to kick and bite, which is especially easy to hurt," Thomas continued.
Taking the reins from Juan, Thomas turned over on the horse, and then trotted up on the horse, Juan observed that Thomas's body did always remain vertical, and the brisk steps were also very natural, and then Thomas made a few side steps and backward movements, allowing Juan to observe his movements.
It feels like hiring a personal trainer in China, but the standard of Thomas Sr. is much higher than that of his coach in China. The domestic coach is roughly taught how to get into the saddle, and then he will give you a horse to teach you how to run, and it is over, which is probably related to the shyness of Ju'an's bag, and Ju'an's learning to ride a horse is basically taught by Li Jin.
Taking the reins handed over by Thomas, Juan got on his horse and experienced it repeatedly. Thomas, on the other hand, went to look after the herd.
For a whole week, Ju An gave the bean grass in the morning, the maroon frisian horse that Ju An bought, and the snowflake, the green horse, tidying up the stables and brushing the horses. The rest of the horses are cared for by Nancy and Wynne. The water for feeding the horses is Tuweizi water that Ju'an has added. Of course, due to eccentricity, the two horses of bean grass and snowflake are directly drunk Tuweizi water.
During the day, he spent the day on horseback, during which Thomas taught Juan to control the horse without a rein, and then made a calf-like wooden frame on the ground, and let him practice the calf, first on the ground, the ground was accurate, and then he practiced on the horse, and the accompanying horse was replaced by Jefferson to Snowflake, and Jefferson became the exclusive mount of old Thomas.
Wynne picked a brown Shootstar Whitehoof Quart and named him Helen, while Nancy chose the only black quart and named him the Black Horse.
After the whole contact, Xuehua gradually adapted to Ju'an's movements, and basically could control Xuehua to go and run backwards without reins. Give a command to snowflakes can understand and firmly carry it out.
Later, I felt more and more relaxed when I practiced Ju An, and Xuehua became more and more cooperative, and sometimes Ju An seemed to feel that he was about to reach the point where the martial arts master's human sword was one.
It wasn't until one day that he saw Nancy playing around the barrel in the driving range that Juan realized that he was still far behind. Nancy and her black steed flew on all fours, juggling around the three tin buckets like butterflies, leaving Juan in awe. Especially the high-speed turning in place, it is simply enviable to Ju'an.
Secretly despised his arrogance, and after a deep review in his heart for a third of a second, Ju An buried his head in practice again.
In between, Wynne and Nancy both rested for two days, and Thomas and Juan were in charge of herding cattle and sheep for these two days. The first time he drove the cow Ju'an was in a hurry, and it wasn't until old Thomas repeated the essentials a few times that he slowly drove out a small look.
In fact, the cow is very honest without anything, that is, the calf will run around, very restless, Ju'an's task is to fight with these little guys, that is, to always block the way of the calf, so that the calf will obediently return to the herd.
When the lasso flew out to the calf's neck, Thomas turned over and dismounted, and Jefferson immediately stood in place, grabbed the calf, and almost in the blink of an eye, Thomas tied the calf's three legs, and the man-horse coordination was perfect.
After practicing a few times, Ju An lassoed the calf, and tied it up with the strength of Fei Lao's nose. Fortunately, Xuehua is a well-trained quart, and there is no shame in people.
Then Thomas taught him how to train a horse, that is, how to get the horse to get used to the saddle, just as Ju An was ready to train the bean grass himself