Nothing bad ever happens to me*

* - Mag's theme song.

Ever since Mag acted terrified of everything on that trail ride with Argo, where Mag was in the lead, I've been wanting to take him back there alone and see what happens.

Today is the day - 65F and sunburn weather, both his pink nose and my arms. I had 6 whole hours to kill at the barn and it was too hot to do arena work. I spent an hour doting on him while he ate his beet pulp and this guy helping Willy said "That's some breakfast you give your horse!" and then Willy asked, "How long does it take for him to eat that?" Just over an hour. I like a full bellied Mag to start the day.

Then I took him to grass - tried to find good grass - and let him graze for 1 hour 10 minutes. I found some decent grass, not great, but something. The elevation there is 200 meters higher than here, and what a difference!

I found a tick walking up his face and pulled it off. Ugh. He also had no-see-ums (?) swarming his ventral side and ears. Horrible! I've got to coat him in desitin or chemicals, or both.

On a Tuesday morning at 11 AM, two joggers passed us, two dog walkers, a nordic walker, and a lady on a Paint horse. I felt that today was such a low-use trail day it would be perfect.

So I saddled up and took Mag down the hill, leading him to the bottom. A group of deer crashed across the trail in front of us, but what scared me most was a little mouse that hurried back into its home right at our feet, loud mouse!

Finally at the bench I got on Mag and he was perfectly calm, holding still til I asked him to move, and getting a mouthful of treats for every little thing. Carrots too!

I was so curious to see how he'd react on this most horrible trail.

No reaction. He was a completely different horse, and he was alone. Of course I kept up a steady stream of conversation with him, and felt pretty relaxed, not totally. I decided in advance that if he became worried about anything, and balked, I'd just let him look until he was comfortable with passing.

He stopped when he saw a dog walker in the distance, "OOOH, person in the distance!" and I just sighed and waited for him. With no pressure from me, it was easy for him to make his own decision to continue, so we did. That felt great.

Then the nordic walker was in front of us with her walking sticks in her arm and he was suspicious of that, so he stopped, but only for a few seconds. I asked for a trot, and he agreed to it. Although I still intend to mostly walk with him for a while, I'm starting to miss trotting in the woods so I treated myself, and showed him that it's possible.

At the top near those scary trailers with tarps flapping and a horrible bathtub, he pooped, and that was his only sign of worry. Funnily, he'd pooped going the opposite way earlier, so there were two lines of poop. Yes, he can poop and walk like a big horse! (Even though he'd much rather stop.)

Turning for home, he started dragging. He was clearly asking me to get off, which I nearly always do at that spot, because of houses and tarps and gardens. I pushed forward today and he agreed, but clearly said, "This is where you get off, loosen the saddle, take out the bit, and praise me. This is what always happens here!" OK, my bad: ) But I let him go as slow as he liked, and praised him for staying calm, which is always the goal.

Right before his hooves hit pavement, I dismounted and he got all those rewards.

Then I put him away in his sunny paddock and still had 1.5 hours to kill so I went into the lounge and read a couple children's books. One of them was about experiencing the horses of Iceland, and the other was a Black Beauty type story that was really, really good, called "Leben auf dem Pony hof" - Life on a Pony Farm. It was freezing cold in the lounge so I put my jacket on over my vest, and made some hot instant coffee (blech).

When done, I came out into the too-hot sunshine and Leonia said, "Are you ill?" "Um.." She said, "You're wearing a scarf and coat!" I said, "Oh, I was in the lounge. Freezing cold in there!"

I might skip going to the barn tomorrow if J cannot find a carpool because he has an 11-hour day and I really don't know what I'd do with 11 hours at the barn. Thursday I ride with Nina, Friday with Claudia, and that's it.

Willy said, "When do you leave?" and I said, "Saturday morning." He looked at Mag and I swear he had a wistful look on his face. *sigh*



I can't wait to see this again, next week! Not the filth-covered horse, but the two of them enjoying our pasture. Looking forward!