I I wasn't expecting to ride today. Sandra says Bert's feet are too bad even in boots so she isn't riding. I had thought to saddle B up and play in the woods and see if I can get on. So we played around the yard and got ready with a some approach and retreat with the saddle and just as I was ready to head out I saw Jan already to go out on her cob Cochise (she has had him out on loan for a few years but he is back for the summer) so I asked if we could come too.
B was lovely and still while I got on. She led the way into the woods but we met some thresholds. I let her rest and wait which was ok and she could go on. A couple of times she abruptly tried to turn around so I asked her to carry on turning and keep going. I surprised myself by not getting scared and concentrated on reassuring B and stroking her neck but being persistent and focussed about where we were going.
She seemed quite tense but happy to lead all the way round the woods although she was looking very closely at bits of plastic and other random things. Her walk is pretty fast and Coche had trouble keeping up so we practiced stopping and did some circling. We did some walk/trot transitions because B couldn't trot slowly, she did her uncomfortable joggy trot and I had a feeling if we cantered she might be too explosive. I am lucky that my riding buddies understand this. It's not about how fast we go.
She was quite nasty to Coche, almost the same as riding Lizzie. Jan noticed too and we think it must be a mare thing. I do pick them!? Biting him whenever he got too close and I am wondering if it's unconfidence not dominance. I watched some more of the Parelli Horseman's Apprentice last night and it was mentioned in a coaching session. So instead of asking B to stop it, I just stroked her and she stopped doing it. Yay!
I had such fun asking B to weave the trees and do some fig 8's and circles. That way Coche didn't have to trot to keep up and it gave us something to do other than stop and wait. She did a massive spook near the pink house! One minute she was there, the next it felt like I looked down and she wasn't there under me! The next minute she was back again and we carried on like nothing had happened. I have often wondered what it feels like when I see other horses do that. Now I know lol.
We had a bit of a mooch around the yard when we got back. Sometimes B is very curious about things and it's great to go and satisfy her curiosity. From what I could see nothing is new or has changed on the yard car park but if it makes B happy thats OK with me.
There were a lot of horses tied up in the courtyard so I thought B had better be tied up too just to be safe. She did her usual standing in her stable looking out of the open door with the 22' line tied outside her stable while I filled her hay net. As I went to put it in her stable she tried to turn to reach the hay but got in a bit of a tight spot. The line had got caught on the bottom bolt keeper of the stable door and she panicked. She was scrabbling about pulling back on the line and almost bashing into the back of her stable. I dropped the hay net I was tying to the ring in her stable, grabbed the line and undid it. Poor B was terrified and pushed her face into my chest as I cradled her head and soothed her. The rope halter had slipped part of the way into her mouth but there wasn't any damage. She calmed down almost immediately with the help of my cuddles. Hmm. I am going to have to be more careful about this in future. I usually undo the rope when I enter her stable just in case, but didn't today. I guess I am only human but should know better. Sigh. Scary stuff!!!
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