Exhausted

I just got back from a 3 hour outing with Mara  - half of it leading her down the busy streets to the trailhead where S and Bintu finally scheduled time to ride with me since we last did in 2014.

Mara was busy stressed and when I arrived early, I just tied her to a bush to have some time to relax. Me, not her, she was jumpy about everything except the crazy loud tractors that passed close by us. Vehicles are never a problem for her, I have no idea why.

Finally they arrived and we both led our high horses down the final street to the trailhead. Bintu was jumpy too but S had managed to ride him most of the way over. He's much better about busy streets than Mara is.

An old lady opened a car door as we passed and Mara blasted forward, terrified. The lady said, "Oh, no need to fear, oh dear." I said, "Idiot" to my horse quietly.

Once in the woods we rode along talking and as relaxed as I was, catching up with S, my horse was chomping her bit nonstop and flinging her head up and down the entire 1.5 hours.

I had to laugh at the intersection where we can ride up a very long hill, or go home, and Mara, as always, chose the route home and refused to follow Bintu up the hill. I was cracking up and patting her happily because I love how independent she is. After I convinced her gently to follow him, we had a nice jog up the hill, leading because Bintu was worried about something. I was proud of Mara but she was vigilant, ready to dash away at any moment instead of proceeding.

I fell back in love with my saddle - everytime I trot in it, I love it anew.

I kept relaxed and loose in my body, talking and laughing with S, so I know I wasn't conveying too much tension to my horse. She was just saying it was too much for her, too stressful. Even though her buddy was there, and we were right on our home trails. *sigh*

S dismounted to lead Bintu down a steep rocky hill. I always ride down it because Mara seems very calm on that descent for some reason, and her 4 Easyboot gloves were making an astounding difference in how surefooted she is on rocks compared to lately when I've been to lazy to use them. Bintu had his 4 Epics on and was equally surefooted.

S was saying how Mara just needs trail time, like, every single day. I said, "I tried. I gave up. It's just so frustrating. If I only had someone to ride with regularly..."

Then I said, "Do you want to ride her?" and S did. She offered me Bintu but no thank you, Ticky Boom.

S was laughing while mounting cuz my stirrups are so much shorter than hers, and she perched up there like a jockey. I have very short legs.

I led Bintu after her - he's a pretty good anchor if you need to stop a ship - and she and Mara quickly gained a lot of distance. She said, "Oh my goodness the POWER of this horse - she floats along! And I don't have to even ask her, and she's got such a fast walk!" She kept having to stop and wait for us, and I'm a fast walker. I said, "Right - we don't have a problem with 'Forward', ever."

Bintu needs to be encouraged along, especially in the arena, so it was fun for her to experience a horse who surges forward as fast as you'll allow. She said, "She just wants to go fast - you should let her! I want to ride her alone, without Bintu, to just let her go!"

I said she needs to learn to walk on trails before I let her run, and letting her run to exhaustion is not a good training technique even if I were brave enough to let her. Even Mell called her a Spooky little Arschloch.

I do enjoy Mara's power, but I am used to that, I've never ridden a horse regularly that didn't have that forward drive. And since Princess was such an abysmal walker, I never rode her at a walk. I just walked beside her, or we trotted.

S seemed to be inspired and said after we return from America, she wants to come ride Mara and try to figure her out. I think that's a great idea, because in some ways Mara is much easier than her lazy yet explosive horse. But I do worry she'll fall off when Mara spooks.

After we parted ways, I had a 45 minute walk in the blazing sun, and I'd forgotten to put sunscreen on my face because it was cloudy and rainy most of the day. I was almost sick from walking in the hot sun, and the heat radiating back to me from the pavement. Mara was rushing to get home and I had to swing my rope around myself quite a bit to get her to stay behind me. At one point I stopped at a bus stop to rest. Mara was not at all comfortable at that bus stop. She spooked in place repeatedly at who knows what. Finally she was tired of how scary it was and gently reached down to touch my hand with her nostril, her way of asking "Can we please depart this cursed place?" I said good girl and we continued on.

I'm completely exhausted and I rubbed ice cubes all over my face, neck and arms to try to cool down.

Mara's head was almost touching the ground as I untacked her. She is equally exhausted, but mentally, not physically.

S said, "I'd buy her, I'd really buy her if I had the time for two."

So many people have said that. Everyone's a fan of Mara.

Oh, and I remeasured her and got 148 on on side and 150 on the other (14.2 and 14.2 - our hands system is so inaccurate!) so I have no idea. I'll update her ad and say 150 to see if that makes a difference to all the people here who need big horses. The funny thing was each time I put the stick up to her, she would do a Spanish Walk step - on both sides! Over and over, it was hilarious. I had to eventually ask J for help to measure my horse. I don't recommend anyone teach Spanish Walk. She offers it when the vet tries to vaccinate her too! Very funny horse. Frustrating, funny horse.