First ride with a friend

You remember May the gorgeous Appy? My friend finally made time for me and I was finally ready (or so I'd hoped) to go out on our first real, planned trail ride together.



She showed up in our driveway and Mara fruck out - OMGosh, HORSE IN THE DRIVEWAY!

She spun around in circles brain completely gone. I had my hands in the air to protect myself.

Uh, this was not what I'd expected. I managed to bring her through the gate and greeted my grinning friend. I called into the house goodbye and we were on our way.

I was on foot at first of course, but I explained that my horse is worst on streets around homes and gardens, and calms a bit in woods. So once we were in the woods, I got on.

Actually things went quite well at first. I talked and talked and relaxed into Mara's perfect rhythm on a loose rein. We didn't really let the horses touch or greet but it was clear that having another horse boosted Mara's and my confidence a lot.

"Nothing bad can happen, I'm riding behind an Appy butt" and that was really nice. I asked if May could please donate some of her luxiurious tail to my broomstick tail horse. *lol* after my friend finally understood my request. We don't communicate that well yet, my German and hers don't quite mesh.

Bicycles, nordic walkers, normal walkers and joggers went by us and it was no problem. Mara even walked by the evil barb-wire ringed post of doom with only a terrified expression.

I think laughing and talking really helps nervous horses and I was doing lots of that. I had stories to tell. The customs story, the Absorbine Ultrashield story (upcoming post) and the dog people who asked me to leave the river.

Then May started being bad. We were in a particularly exciting area on the ridgeline with a cornfield on one side and valleys everywhere below. She started prancing and jigging and my friend started circling her in the long grass. Mara started to get very uptight and impatient. This was exactly where Mara was on hyper-prance mode last week. It's just a stimulating piece of landscape I think. Finally C stopped circling and we tried to carry on but May had decided that jigging would be the pace from then on.

Thank God Mara did not join her in the jigging. Instead, she started tossing her head repeatedly. I know she has a bad tooth so I do not put any pressure on the reins when I ride, I let them hang, but even hanging, she was tossing and tossing. In 2 weeks our vet will come pull that tooth, and it had never bothered her before, so I was pretty shocked. She also kept trying to root (pull the reins out of my hands suddenly) but that does not work with me. (She was a school horse before.)

I was thrilled again to see how May would pull away in her need for speed and Mara would just LET HER. That is my dream horse - the one who doesn't have to be right there or in the lead. Thank you God, this is the horse I was looking for.

OK when May pulled around a corner out of sight about 20 meters in front of us, Mara jumped to attention and started to jig but I yelled at her. My friend thought I was yelling at *her* when I yelled ":HEY! HEY, quit it!"

Finally we came to one irresistable spot and May sprang forward and C had to circle again and again. She apologized for the "strictness training" but I said, "You don't have to apologize to ME about this. We need to help each other, and in the future I hope we can both work on issues such as leading and following." She agreed, she seems to have the same philosphies about trail behavior. She says she doesn't always canter in the same spot, which is also good.

I found that Mara is learning how to carry a rider down a hill, much better than last week. This is a real challenge for a flatland horse, I cannot overstate it. She did the drunken sailer last week with me.

May just wouldn't settle down and I was dismayed because C had promised me "Oh, she's totally calm now."

Not calm at all. In fact, very like Baasha, always in a hurry.

C wanted to go down to a bridge and I said I was scared and she promised me it was new and safe for horses. I said OK but when we got to the trail I chickened out. Mara had been head tossing terribly and May was fighting to gallop off and I just couldn't take more challenges at that moment. Also, your first trail ride should not be too long....

I apologized and we climbed back up. May was the opposite of good. C apologized for her behavior, that it was not the role model I'd hoped for.

Indeed.

I finally jumped off and speed walked alongside May's powerwalk because I didn't want to push Mara any further.  Actually, C said that Mara was being exemplary, really good, and she was surprised. I was dubious but I knew with May's example it could have been worse, or even disasterous. Everytime C turned around to look at us, we were ambling along on a loose rein. She didn't see all the head tossing. But I have to admit, Mara was better than good.

When we finally parted ways, after my last story, Mara kind of freaked out. I'd never experienced this before with a horse but as I led her away, she weaved huge loops behind me, trying to keep her eyes on May as they departed into the horizon by my favorite Thai restaurant.

Since Mara did not pull on me, nor did she run into me in her urgent looping back and forth, I let it be. She would stumble off the curb into the street, then weave back onto the sidewalk and the grass on the other side, then weave back, fall onto the street again clumsily, over and over. Traffic, even busses, were giving her a wide berth. I'm sure she looked like a fire-breathing dragon horse as she whirled around behind me tossing her mane to see behind her.

Easyboots stayed on the whole complicated ride.

Right before I reached home, the terrier lady came out to greet us again. She greeted us 6 weeks ago and Mara almost ran her down. Tonight Mara was not much better, I'm ashamed to say. She seemed to have forgotten her "just stand there" training and was so frustrated. The terrier lady's daugher Isabel, our farmsitter, was washing her little car, and I asked about her horse and when she's gonna bring her into our town. There are simply too many stables around here to board your horse so far away, like she does. Actually, they live *adjacent* to Herr S's property. They look at his horses out one window, and they look at my horse and donkey out the other. But it's complicated. Oh well, I asked her if she can housesit for us in October when we fly to America. She'll let us know. By then Mara had given up jumping around erratically and just stood there.

I took her home and ground tied her and untacked her and found two pressure spots on her back. A new saddle is not far off. Good thing I have the world's best bareback pad for the interim.

I know  I need to focus again on the positive, and I count tonight as mostly positive. I am disappointed that my friend promised me a calm, experienced trailhorse companion and instead had to deal with a jigging whirling tempest. But that proved to me that Mara can take that, so I guess I should be thankful.

OK next time I'm going up to Herr S across the street and asking the *two* horse owners there of calm horses if they'll take me out.

It simply has to be better, .....but then ...it has nowhere to go but there.