Another ride in the school? No! I don't think so.

I wonder if I made one too many assumptions this evening, or just expected the same outcome. Breeze caught me with more energy when I went to find her in the field. She was quite aggressive with a couple of horses that came too close to us. I gave B her dinner and time for it to settle, then I put the saddle, steps and my hat in the school and came back for B and a play in the school before I got on.

All was good. Breeze was calm and all the pre flight checks were lovely. As I was tying up the 22' line Merlin and his owner came in the school for a lunge followed by Sandra and Bertie. I thought nothing of it, make no assumptions...I lined Breeze up, made sure she was ready, put my foot in the stirrup, my knee on the saddle and she walked off! I got down and asked her to stand by the steps but she couldn't stand still or stop looking at Merlin.

I untied the 22' line and asked B to circle and what followed was Breeze showing me the other side of her nature. Time and time again when I asked for circle she would set off nicely and as soon as she got behind me she stopped and came in. So I thanked her for checking in, played some friendly and sent her again, lightly. This turned into 'no I won't circle but instead I will pull back on the rope, bug my eyeballs out and back up'. I tried circle against the fence. I tried travelling circles but B would just explode and try to get away. At one point I let the rope go and she just stood staring at me, the whites of her eyes showing, head in the air. I picked up the rope and we walked a little way but she kept turning her HQ towards me. We played a little hide your hiney and she seemed ok about that.

There is something about me asking her to hide her hiney on her right side and then sending her anti clockwise that bugs the hell out of her. I have noticed we struggle with this sometimes. And yet she will do it, but then change her mind and offer me sideways but with her head in the air and her eyes all googly.

I don't know if I was getting emotional or just fed up but B decided she wanted to just go backwards so I said 'ok, let's see how far and fast you can go backwards', while we head for the gate. It was obvious I wasn't going to be riding and I had had enough of her being right brained so it was time to leave it and not have either of us get upset. Only she doesn't seem scared or upset, more defiant and as if she is having a tantrum but certainly not being a partner. It seems to me she is saying I don't want to do any of this so you can just sod off!

Usually as soon as we get near the gate B will ask me how she should leave. Usually this is hide your HQ, back up to the opening, then back up around the open gate. Sometimes it's walk through the gap and turn and face me. Tonight, as soon as she was near, she couldn't do any of this. Her head was in the air and she jumped around not being able to stand still. After a couple of bumps she backed out of the school but didn't calm down. I carried on asking her to back up . . . all the way to her stable! I kept giving her the chance to stop and wait and calm down all through this but she couldn't. I asked her to back into her stable, took the halter and line off and shut the door, leaving her while I went and collected the rest of my stuff from the school.

For some reason Blogger won't let me remove this photo and I realise I put it in my last post. Oh well, it's a lovely photo. Enjoy it all over again, then lol.

I have asked myself a lot of questions all the way home in the car. There are no answers that immediately come to mind. Maybe Breeze just wasn't in the mood for anything. Maybe she is testing me, now that we have got to know each other a bit better. A different horse showed up that I seem to have trouble dealing with. By dealing with, I mean having be in a good mood and happy to be a partner. I would really have loved to repeat Monday night's ride but B had other ideas. I am trying not to feel I have failed her somehow. I feel somewhat frustrated that we weren't partners and it felt like she just didn't want to do anything but look at Merlin. I am also a little worried this will set me back from riding in the school again. I guess I will just have to tell myself over and over again that it's a different day, next time.

Sandra and I have ordered Hoof Boots. Sandra was very worried about Bertie this evening. She thinks he is uncomfortable while transitioning at the moment and didn't feel right. I cannot say either way. Who can be certain what goes on in our horses heads? Bertie isn't my horse and I don't know him as well as Sandra does. The trimmer said some horses are real wimps while their feet are changing. Bertie being a LBI is quite unmotivated to do much at all, so who knows if he is in pain or not, so all I can do is support Sandra over the next few weeks and try to find a way to help her not worry too much.