How I Met Dude

I was learning to ride again for the third time in my life. One day at lessons at Big Tree, the two oldest school masters were both too badly in need of shoeing so I got assigned to ride Dude for the lesson. On my daughter's endorsement of "Dude is great once you get on him!!" I agreed to ride him. When I put his hackamore on he slung it off his head and into the side of the barn making a great and dramatic scene. That freaked me out. The Barn Owner (BO) got him bridled and saddled for me while I cowered in my car smoking a cigarette. I did not want to ride him after all of that, but I did. And he was smooth and good and lovely at the walk and trot. And he is beautiful. The BO said one of the barn girls had worked with Dude a lot and had gotten him to the point of standing still for all tacking and rode him all over the arena over the jumps on a loose rein. Plus, he was reputed to be great on trails. One lesson, I asked the BO to get on Dude and ride so I could see how to do it right. When I saw her riding Dude I fell in love (with Dude). He put his beautiful head down, collected and moved like silk.