The H.I.T. riders meet every Tuesday at 6:30 pm. This isn’t your typical riding class. In fact, some weeks there is no riding at all. But every week the horses are involved in some aspect of the challenge.

Yes, these young riders are up for the challenge of training a horse. H.I.T. is an acronym for Horseperson In Training. And although their riding instructor is present, it is up to them to determine what challenge they choose and how they will go about accomplishing it.

One of the young riders selected roping a steer for her challenge. We provided the cow, as it turned out, but she decided what steps would be taken to make sure the horse accepted the “steer” in the arena and allow her to rope it.

Eventually, this challenge will go one step further, and the cow will “run” along the long wall of the arena on a rail while the rider “ropes” it. But for now, we just got the horse used to the cow moving and the rope hitting the cow.

This video captures it. 

It did take about four weeks to accomplish this task. And although our horses are pretty much desensitized, it took an entire session to get Leslie really comfortable with the cow.

For more information about the variety of programs we offer, see our website at Pretty Pony Pastures.