Bad, then ok, then better

Saturday J said he'd take a walk with me and my horse so I saddled her happily anticipating an easy fun time. We went to the trail closest our house, the most familiar one for my horse, to set a new geocache. Once we were on the trail, I got on Mara. She was very good, I could ride her on the buckle while following my man down the trail.

We got to the location, where there is a bench and I've tied her before to spend some time sitting. I was on her this time, and she stood still for me really well. I was so happy. Then J went a bit further away to get GPS readings, and she started to get uneasy. I insisted she stand, and she did, so I let her walk around a bit. We went up and down a big hill in a loop, where we could see J a ways off. She started to fret. Badly.

She thought the hill was stupid, and when I stopped her at the bottom, she started pawing, and then STRIKING the ground with her front hooves angrily. I ignored both of course, but was concerned. She started chomping her bit and didn't stop for the rest of the day. She started slinging her head.

I was shocked. J was back with us, and we meandered home, and Mara was totally freaked out. She was slinging her head like crazy, and glancing all around her, and almost jigging, but I was able to contain that.

Then she spooked and almost trampled my husband. I have no idea what it was, behind her, but she was suddenly skittering around and I pulled her head around and started circling her. Then a bicycle appeared and she spooked at it AGAIN. My horse is not afraid of bikes. This was the first time she has shown a problem with one. She leapt forward and spun around. I kept her bent, and kept her turning, and told my husband to get to safety, because it was not safe on the trail with us.

I serpentined her around some pine trees until she was actually under control again.

Then the entire way home she flung her head up and down and chomped her bit, even though my husband was walking right next to her, talking to her, sometimes petting her. It was beyond belief - we were so close to home. 100 meters max.

My husband was also perplexed, wondering why she was acting this way.

When we reached the house with the sheep, Mara started to freeze up like she'd never seen sheep before. I jumped off, and Mara was so distracted she was off balance and she stepped on my foot for the first time ever. I tried to slap her away to get her off me, and ended up hitting my stirrup with my wrist, which is now painfully bruised.

J started helping me. When she came to a fallen-down roadsign, where I knew she'd spook again, and she did, he went over and sat on it until she was brave enough to approach. He was patient with me when I put the rope through the stirrups and ground-drove her the last 75 meters up our street to home.

When we got there I apologized to him, promised him we'd go caching properly the next day (and we did!) and I took Mara to our field to lunge her.

I sometimes lunge her in our field because it's so incredibly hilly she can learn to balance herself on hills, and it works her out so well in comparison to a flat arena, in 10 minutes we're done.

But by minute 2, or so, she decided she shouldn't have to work in her pasture, and she bucked toward me, catching the lunge line between her hind legs, and then she took off full speed. I automatically tried to keep the line in my hand, to my regret. First rope burn in 10 years. It happens so rarely I don't even think about gloves for lunging, but obviously if I'm going to lunge in her pasture, I need them.

She went running off, but soon found the gate closed and stopped, looking at me. I was amazed, she let me approach her and catch her and then we started again. I only wanted a walk/jog, but she gets so excited in there. This time she gave me the trot, but suddenly reared up, refusing to go forward.

How strange. But then she was fine and eventually just walked for me. 10 minutes total, and my hand had blisters across it, and some fingerprint removal.

I won't neglect to wear gloves if I'm lunging in our pasture, it's just too tempting for a horse to get fiesty. I remember Baasha used to be the same way here. I'd jump on his back and he'd try to take off at a gallop immediately, thinking, "It's MY place, I get to do what I want here."

That was Saturday.

Sunday I had a new Western Trainer come out for my first Western lesson.

She extinguished any sense of welcome when the first words out of her mouth were, "You keep a horse with a donkey? If you are having any trouble with this horse, that is the reason. They don't speak the same language."

I said, "Neither do my husband and I."

But enough on that, I'm tired of this. Actually, I remember how when I visited Mara in Hannover, she lived in a herd, and even shared a stall/paddock with another horse, and balked and refused to walk forward under saddle in the arena directly next to her stall/paddock. Another person had to come hold her bridle to get her to walk past whatever it was. So her hypersensitivity to her environment is not connected to her herd life or lack of.

I told the trainer, "I'm not convinced that having another horse here at home will help her calm down when she's not at home." Not that my logic means anything to the people who condemn me....

The trainer watched my routine, including saddling and warming up after we all walked across the street to the arena. Mara was very good but the trainer said she seems stiff, and her tail is held up awkwardly, stiffly. I said she's part Arabian. I saw nothing amiss with Mara's striding out, she overtracked as normal at the walk.

She said it's imperative that Mara wear a Winter blanket on days when it rains and is cold. I disagree, because Mara is young, healthy, a little overweight, has a shelter and freechoice food.  I told her I'll blanket her if it gets very cold, which it can in Germany.

The trainer seems to have good teaching technique - she watches you ride and then asks you to evaluate it, good and bad, and why you think each is so. I also watched her give two other lessons (Chili and Tiger) this day. She sure loves to teach, it's hard to get her to stop afterwards!

For me, she just watched me ride around at a walk or trot and asked me to analyze my horse's movement, which leg is moving when, and how my hips can follow the movement. It was so great to have such a relaxing, low pressure lesson.

She does berate English riders for their technique, praising the methods of Western riders as superior. "We wear jackets while we ride, because our horses are doing the work, not the riders! The English riders ride in tshirts, sweating!" OK this level of condescension is not mature, really, this is not religion, it's horses.. Oh wait....: )

She said that I need to establish a relationship with my horse, that riding shouldn't be a priority, that our next lesson should just be groundwork, ala the 7 games of Parelli. I said I'm not interested in becoming a Parelli person, but the 7 games are pretty basic and Mara already has a grasp of them, so it won't hurt to do them.

That was Sunday.

Today I asked to come ride at that Hawaiian Silver arena nearby, that is so meticulously maintained no one is allowed to ride there if it has rained in the last 1.5 days.

I was invited to come over, and another lady was riding there too. As we arrived, the owner's two horses were galloping madly around in their field adjacent to the arena, because it was so windy out, and a tractor was spraying "smoking" hot manure in the field beside them, loudly and stinkily. Mara was quite upset when she saw them galloping around, and the lady suddenly almost lost control while lunging her big dun horse. She is a quiet breed, but not so quiet at that moment.

I put Mara on the lunge but before I could begin, she started her frantic half circling behavior, where I'm standing at the wall/fence of an arena, and she starts lunging herself in half circles around me, coming to the fence, reversing herself, rushing to the other side of me, reversing, and so on. This is what she does at the ostrich farm. I was surprised to see her doing it here. I just stood there til she stopped. Then I started lunging her, and she took off like a shot, shaking her head, flipping it up and down until she got both reins on one side of her head somehow (even though they're secured to the saddle). She was leaping, jerking, trying to pull away again, and the lady on the other end of the arena said, "Oh, she had her breakfast today!"

But soon she was tractable and I removed the reins and continued lunging, with actual obedience to my commands Walk, Trot, and Canter. But with lots of spooking. New dressage letters installed at the sides of the arena, oh no!

The other lady finally got on her big yellow mare and I continued lunging for 30 minutes total, with a lot of transitions and reverses.

Finally I felt OK about getting on, but not too OK. She was pretty wound up, and I started her as usual with some tiny serpentines, and halting and backing. Then just standing doing nothing. Then I got her trotting with a good bend in each direction, and we did some leg yields, and turns on the haunches both ways, and more standing still. Then I jumped off. I'd only ridden 10 minutes.

The other lady said, "That's all?" But yes, rather a short success than a long question mark.

On the way home that tractor came back and was spraying steaming manure beside the trail, so it was almost landing on us, it was so close. Mara was quite tense so I asked her to back and stand a few times (I was leading her on my NH rope).

Then I started jogging home and she trotted bravely behind me.

By the creek, I tied her up to the normal tree and she stood there while I drank my cranberry juice. She was actually patient, cocked a hip even, although her expression was not calm. For some reason the Narnia quote came to mind, "Some of the trees are on her side!"

I wandered around the creek for a half hour before finally untying her and heading home.

Between there and home we encountered a crew on our road laying new asphalt, and they were pounding it down with a thumping device that was very loud. And the asphalt was hot and being sprayed with water, so lots of steam and stink was pouring off. I was happy to approach it with my horse and show her road building for the first time.

But they all stopped their work when they saw a horse, so I had to pass by. They waited a good long time for us to pass before they started, at which point I stopped an sat on a road divider, letting Mara observe from a distance.

When we got home I did a few of those silly 7 games with her, which she thinks are "for babies" although we are not precise with them yet.

She gets tomorrow off, and then I'll take her for a walk and we'll do more of those games to make my new trainer happy. (I know, every horse should know those games.)

I have to say, I feel better than I did Saturday. Bad, worse, ok, better, I prefer the carousel to the roller coaster.