Cranky antics
Megan came over this evening and went on a hack with me and our trainer. She rode Pooh, our trainer was on her big grey, and I rode Clover.
Pooh was being a bit of a shit even before we got out on the trail, she was jigging around while Megan was adjusting her stirrups. She continued to be tense and agitated, waving her head around, and finally started balking and refusing to go forward while walking downhill on a part of the trail that was new to her. I handed Meg my bat so she could encourage Pooh with it. Meg said that her back was starting to hurt (from a snowboarding injury, she bruised her tail bone), so we switched horses and I got on Pooh and gave her what for.
We continued on, but Pooh remained tense, and continued grunting and tossing her head every few strides. We did some trotting, but she never quite got it out of her system, and even started to curl her haunches around to the right. It became a pattern: toss her head, be corrected by me and scoot forward, stretch her neck down and grunt, and when I refused to her her pull the reins out of my hands, throw her haunches to the right, and I'd give her an opening rein to the left and bend her around my left leg to straighten her out. As everyone is fond of saying these days, lather, rinse, repeat.
My trainer's horse was being a turkey, too. He turned into the cross-country monster, as in “we goin' cross country? huh? we goin?” prancing and passaging and doing a tiny, excited canter on the spot. She just ignored him and rode on. Clover, of course, was being a perfect angel for Meg, especially compared to Pooh and her cranky antics. For my part, I realized I'd come a long way since letting Bobby get under my skin and rattle me. I just sat quietly on Pooh and gave her a loose rein, trying to keep her as straight and stretching out as much as I could. Of course, that doesn't mean I didn't discipline her when she was being particularly silly. I didn't get tense and worried.
We figured Pooh was either in heat, or the saddle no longer fit her correctly and she was uncomfortable, or the bugs were bothering her.
Tomorrow night I'll get on Clover and do some conditioning like I'd planned.
Pooh was being a bit of a shit even before we got out on the trail, she was jigging around while Megan was adjusting her stirrups. She continued to be tense and agitated, waving her head around, and finally started balking and refusing to go forward while walking downhill on a part of the trail that was new to her. I handed Meg my bat so she could encourage Pooh with it. Meg said that her back was starting to hurt (from a snowboarding injury, she bruised her tail bone), so we switched horses and I got on Pooh and gave her what for.
We continued on, but Pooh remained tense, and continued grunting and tossing her head every few strides. We did some trotting, but she never quite got it out of her system, and even started to curl her haunches around to the right. It became a pattern: toss her head, be corrected by me and scoot forward, stretch her neck down and grunt, and when I refused to her her pull the reins out of my hands, throw her haunches to the right, and I'd give her an opening rein to the left and bend her around my left leg to straighten her out. As everyone is fond of saying these days, lather, rinse, repeat.
My trainer's horse was being a turkey, too. He turned into the cross-country monster, as in “we goin' cross country? huh? we goin?” prancing and passaging and doing a tiny, excited canter on the spot. She just ignored him and rode on. Clover, of course, was being a perfect angel for Meg, especially compared to Pooh and her cranky antics. For my part, I realized I'd come a long way since letting Bobby get under my skin and rattle me. I just sat quietly on Pooh and gave her a loose rein, trying to keep her as straight and stretching out as much as I could. Of course, that doesn't mean I didn't discipline her when she was being particularly silly. I didn't get tense and worried.
We figured Pooh was either in heat, or the saddle no longer fit her correctly and she was uncomfortable, or the bugs were bothering her.
Tomorrow night I'll get on Clover and do some conditioning like I'd planned.
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