When Lorena had been about eighteen months old, her
mother had insisted that she be taught to ride a horse.
At that age she had not had to do very much except to
sit on the horse’s back and be led around. To begin
with there had always been somebody in the saddle to
hold her but as she grew and got stronger the other
person had been displaced and would walk beside her to
stop her from falling.
By the time she was three Lorena had become quite a
little horsewoman, able to ride and control the horse,
at a trot, on her own. On her third Birthday Lorena had
been given her very own pony, a female foal from the
previous year that would hopefully grow with the little
girl and remain a good steed for many years to come.
This had been the case and the two had learned together
the art of horsemanship.
The first time Lorena had had any idea that there was
another way to ride a horse, was when she was five. She
had seen, on several occasions, a girl of about
fifteen, riding a horse, while slung in a cradle under
the horse’s belly. The girl had come for many weeks,
and trained in this fashion, controlling the horse by
pressure from her hands and feet, which were secured at
the sides of the horse. Lorena had no idea that that
was the way to control a horse whilst riding in this
position but later had found this information from an
aunt who introduced her to the art.