Not so good, and then barn drama

As always, a good day is followed by a bad one. I decided it was time for Mag to learn to canter more than twice around me and he knew something was up. As soon as I said Canter he started running and bucking and slipping in the footing and every time he slipped he got pissed off and bucked, even kicking the wall intentionally once or twice.

I try not to take it personally - I think I've known horses before who get pissed off at losing their footing, but I know he'd prefer to not have to work hard, and boy did he end up working hard with all that kicking out angrily.

Claudia poked her head over the door and that sent him even higher, if possible. She was like, "Wow, he's upset." She came in and sat down for the show.

We had to go the other direction too, and so it was another spectacle as he fought for footing and got his legs mixed up and hit the stirrup against the wall. Was it a tantrum? I am not sure. I definitely got more than 2 circles each direction, that was my goal, and now he knows that might happen again, and hopefully he'll think about it tonight.

I was able to bring him down to a trot and a walk very easily, he was compliant despite the outbursts.

Then I got on and rode Claudia's obstacles, she showed me three different ways to ride a slalom, which was fun, but I mostly wanted to continue working on his forward marching walk and that is coming along too. Lots and lots of walk trot transitions. She sees how Mag doesn't react to my whip after he ignores my leg so she thinks the trotting as "punishment" for not walking briskly is more effective. I'm getting pretty comfortable with his poky jog trot. And the walk is slowly improving.

I did a lot of single pole trotting today too, cuz Claudia says he drags his hind feet and needs to pick them up. We also practiced backing over a pole under saddle, which I had only done on the ground until today.

He was extremely distracted every time we passed the door, watching horses come and go. So we made him work harder whenever he looked out the window. He's also afraid of that corner and she said all the horses are, because the benches and junk gets moved around so much it's always new. And there's a big mirror, that Claudia covered with a blanket for me to make it easier there.

She was happy with the way he was moving, I could feel it but I wish I could see it.

It was very nice of her to give me yet another "lesson" - directing me, not correcting me, a very big difference! It was probably a half hour. Slowly my rides are getting longer. One day I'll actually be on my horse for a full hour, imagine that. My warm up lasted a full 30 minutes.

Afterwards she told me that the "sequim" jacket lady wanted me to know I broke the rules, that I lunged a horse in there without asking permission first.

I was stunned - there was nothing going on in there, in comparison to what I've seen in the past. There was just that one lady riding, and another lady in the center having a stationary chiro appt, not moving at all. Why would I ask permission to enter if there was so very little going on!?!?!

Well, apparently those are the rules. OK, I know, I admitted I don't know all the rules yet.

I told Claudia, "I ALWAYS ask if I can enter. I just didn't that one time because I didn't think I had to." She said, "Yah, and you got caught that one time!"

If there had been more than one person in there actually working a horse, I would have asked. I'm really good at lunging on a very small circle to warm up (mostly at a walk). Oh well, now I know.

Then as I was untacking my sweaty (!) horse, I stepped over to Claudia as she spoke to the pregnant lady and said, "Excuse me, but what if I am just LEADING my horse around a few minutes before I get on and ride? I always like to warm my horse up first, and I don't have to lunge or do ground work to do it." She said that that is different, that if you intend to ride and you lead your horse around on the ganze bahn, you also have priority in the arena, just as a rider would. Whew. Then the pregnant lady said, "Oh, is this about what happened Saturday?"

Huh? So everyone knows about it? Sequim jacket lady complained to more than one person that I broke the rules? Ugh. I explained to both of them that I asked Gabi the rules when I first arrived and she said there are no official rules, just "the normal ones." I think the pregnant lady sympathized with my ignorance.

I wish the sequim jacket lady, Alina is her name, would have spoken to me like a grown up, rather than tell random barn people to talk to me for her. Maybe she's scared of the freaky American.

Anyway I felt better soon after, because as the pregnant lady was getting Moritz the Haflinger ready, I asked her, "What happened to your lease rider, Jasmin, and her mother Birgit? Are they on vacation?"

She got this look on her face and said, "They're gone. They gave no warning, I just got a call, 'we  won't be coming to the barn anymore starting today' and this is a most inconvenient time!"

I thought to myself, "Why is now inconvenient" but said nothing. She said, "Birgit was always sort of weird, and I think Jasmin lost her nerve after her fall from Wolke a few weeks ago - she never rode Wolke nor Moritz after that, she only did ground work. She was scared."

I said, "She's too young to be scared. That usually comes later in life, how sad."

I wanted to say how much Jasmin loved Moritz, how intensively they worked almost every day, but then this new girl (from Saturday) showed up, her new potential lease. She said, "I hope this one falls madly in love with Moritz, now would be good, I'm at 9 months." I gasped, "OH...." You'd never guess she was 9 months, or even that she was pregnant, cuz she's a sturdily built lady and always bundled up completely. Funny, I doubt I'd recognize any of these barn people if they were to unbundle themselves from their Winter gear.

I'm sad that Jasmin and Birgit are gone. Supposedly they showed up at 7:30 AM to get their things so they wouldn't have to see anyone. Not a single goodbye from these people who helped me so much and made me feel so welcome! What a pity.

The sequim jacket lady thing didn't seem so bad after hearing that. : )

One more thing, Jana showed up to ride the Fjord Maja and said, "Ride with me in the woods, come on!" I was flattered cuz she's half my age and I know I'm probably boring to her.

I said, "I'm not quite ready yet, but close! But I won't be riding out with YOU! You'll take off galloping waving bye bye over your shoulder at me!" She said, "OK you ride Maja, I ride Mag." I laughed.....not gonna happen! Someday maybe but not anytime soon. And for pityssake I'm not allowed to ride Maja and I won't destroy my relationship with her owner, who is letting me use her trailer every day to train my horse. Jana is awesome, but she's a wild thing. She reminds me of me.

Oh, I almost forgot - I think I was bitten by a spider because a week ago I had a red ring on my leg, and then it turned into a purple blister, about 2 inches, perfectly round, and last night it opened up and there is a hole under the blister. I have a freaking hole in my leg! I went to the doctor and they said I need to make an appointment for a tetanus shot. What, why a tetanus shot? It is more disgusting than painful, and I took a picture but I won't make you look. There are no poisonous spiders here but the Internet photos I searched through today seem to confirm spider bite. I regret  I didn't get to experience some nice hallucinations. We'll see what the doctor says tomorrow. I showed Claudia and she said, "PROMISE me you'll go to the doctor and get a tetanus shot!"

Hm, why tetanus? Well, I cut myself with my hoof rasp recently so I know it's a good idea. So I'll walk through the snowy streets tomorrow to my doctor. I'd love to bring Bellis but I'm not sure where to tie her.