Monday, July 24, 2017

As if he'd never worn a saddle

That was how Mag acted today when I took him to the fancy arena to ride with TP for the first time.

It's cool and windy today, so I have a whole 'nother horse. The bad kind.

I hesitated to ride Hohestrasse and when I finally got on at the bench where old Frau Harkemann normally sits, he was actually spooky, and slammed on the brakes a few times staring into the distance. I'd just sit there doing nothing, letting him stand, and then he'd say, "Oh no, I don't stand still when I'm outdoors, I must go!" and then the cycle would repeat, stopping to stare at things, then fussing if I asked him to just stand and look as long as he liked. He's messing with his own mind, I swear.

When we got there I rode into the driveway and asked him to stand and he fussed and pawed, even though we were at our destination, there was nowhere else to go! So frustrating. I got off finally and just stood there with him for about 5 minutes, then we moved one step at a time, with backing in between to the arena, where TP was lunging Dakhin.

She had set up a little trail course for us: two garbage cans 1 meter apart, 2 ground poles, and the slalom of cones was still down the middle. I told her my horse was acting freaky from the weather and she said I should lunge him first.

I jogged him on the lungeline right away cuz he was already warm. But almost immediately, something spooked him, and he transformed into his grandsire Ekstern. Tail over his back, prancing, I shook my head, "This is not a horse I would like to ride." But it was pretty cool looking, and we had an audience. Ekstern is my favorite horse in Mag's pedigree (Ekstern's father was Made in America!) but I'm sure if YouTube existed in the 50s, I'd have other favorites. Here is a video of Ekstern, the floatiest Arabian I've ever seen. I've linked to this video before, but I cannot help myself. This horse! (Can't believe he raced on the flat track 10 times - this horse who obviously prefers trotting to anything else?)











As soon as Mag cantered (on his own), he started acting as if he'd never had a saddle on his back. He was rushing sideways, twisting around, kicking out violently. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the spectacular show as it developed.

TP shouted to me, "How old is he?"

"6"

"Oh, he's just entered puberty, that's it."

Puberty, hrmph. How can a gelding have puberty? It's a physical impossibility.

I could have sworn there was a tack under his saddle, the way he was fighting, but the I realized that my little plastic pill container (geocache) was touching his back. I immediately stopped him, took off my visibility vest, and hung it on the front of the saddle. Why not make it more interesting. (And I should note that stopping him was no problem, he was still "with me.")

Coming around at a canter, he accidentally bumped his stirrup into one of the garbage cans and he kicked out at it. TP laughed, "So he's trying to test the stability of our obstacles!"

She asked, speculatively,  if I should put a red ribbon in his tail, like she had to when Dakhin was younger. I said, "Even though my horse has never kicked another horse in a crowded arena, I cannot promise you he won't, I simply don't know, yet. So we'll be careful."

I was horrified that he was kicking out, but strangely he was only kicking away from me, which makes me think it was that little pill box. Remember the time he performed a rodeo because a rope got under his girth? He went completely nuts and nothing was tight or pulling, it just felt weird to him. I just stepped into the barn and left him to bronc it out.

Then I switched directions and he was suddenly fine even though he hates going to the right. I immediately realized he wasn't playing any of his normal lunge tricks today - no suddenly switching directions, and no running off full blast. He was simply fighting some odd sensation. To be  honest the lumps on his back are still there. They don't seem to bother him as much as they bother me, and the vet has assured me they are just swollen sebaceous glands. He has more now, than back in May. I am tempted to spend all my time worrying about them, but for now I'll keep riding and see what happens. With the vet's permission, and a perfectly slickered-out wool saddle pad each and every ride.

I want to be able to wear a rain coat on this horse someday. Right now I'm just getting wet if it rains. I've hung coke bottles full of rocks off his saddle and lunged him and he's fine. But his rump rug, or a towel puts him over the edge.

As soon as I saw submissive Mag again we were done. I looked at my watch. The entire horrible, awful lunging session was 20 minutes.

I led him to the poles and walked him over them.

TP showed me her control freak side today. Wow. She said, "No, you can't walk him over the poles, they are not at the right distance for walking, they're trotting distance." *sigh*

She called to her husband, who was cleaning up poop alongside the arena, "Hey, how far apart did you place those garbage cans?" He answered, "100cm!" She said, "They're supposed to be 120."

Every time she rode near where I was lunging, she said, "Attention, I'm coming by" to which I always answered, "I'm watching!" The way Mag was on the lunge, I wouldn't ride by him, if I were her. But I kept him out of her way, keeping her and her horse safe.

Then she demonstrated what she planned for us to do with the poles. Walk in between them and let the horse just stand there, and then back out in a straight line. OK.

I got on my horse and did it, albeit not a straight line backing, but fine.

Then she said I should go to the garbage cans and make Mag stand next to them. OK, we did it. As soon as Mag reached out with his mouth to play with them, she said, "NO don't let him touch them! He has to just stand there."

Then I started bumping into the garbage cans, and opening them and banging the lid around. Mag's cool with garbage cans, he often rams them on the street on garbage day, no problem. But TP, on the other end of the arena, yelled, "Please stop it, you're making my horse nervous!"

OK no playing around with the cans then.

Then I asked if she'd ride the slalom with me, with her leading, and I'd let Mag follow Dakhin for moral support, and to demonstrate the movements.

She must practice a lot, because her horse easily kept a consistent distance from each cone, whether she was doing a close in slalom, or a larger circular form.

I followed her at 1.5 horse lengths, and it was really cool to maintain this distance as she did the different movements.

At one point she was just circling one cone in a 5 meter circle repeatedly, and we were directly across from her on the circle, and we were able to maintain the distance the entire time.

And then we did it at the trot! It was as if we'd been practicing.

Then she trotted the slalom with large arcs around each cone and we kept 1.5 horse lengths behind her, and I realized what we were doing would be pretty to someone observing. Both horses were submissive and relaxed and keeping perfect pace with each other. We had our own little Pas de Deux, excuse my French, with our matching grey Arabians.  

UPDATE: Today she texted me, "That was really cool, what you suggested, that you follow me in the patterns. Let's do it again!" I replied, "Let's have someone take video next time, cuz that was BEAUTIFUL, what we did together!"

TP's husband (Silver's owner) took a photo of us riding together, I hope he got us doing more than just walking side by side. 

Then the Friesian's owner showed up. Reize, or whatever his name is, the sweet, sweet thing! (He's the only horse I'll let rub noses with Mag, when no one else is home, cuz they obviously won't freak out about it.)

I'd never met her before, this large blond lady who, like me, doesn't seem to bother with fashion, around horses. She was with a huge hairy dog (think Benji, but larger, Jacob Black). She greeted her horse, spoke to him lovingly, scratched his back, and then sat there looking at her cell phone the rest of the time I was there.

When I came over to put my things away, her dog growled at me, and she said, "Don't worry, he won't do anything."

I'm so sick of this line, because it's what all off-leash-dog people say, and it's NEVER nothing. Growling at me is something.

How bout this. IF it were truly nothing, would you have to say it's nothing? No, cuz it would be NOTHING. The loose dog would be at your side, not threatening to put another hole in my arm like the one I have from an Akita on my 16th birthday at the church Memorial Day picnic.

Thank God Mag seems to love dogs.

TP said, "I told her." Instead of the new boarder saying she'd put her dog on a leash, she repeated that he wouldn't do anything, that he's only a baby. "Well, that's different, he's a baby, he won't do anything, how nice to be me!!" (sarcasm)  So, like with my horse, she really has no idea what he might do. The difference is I say, "I don't know what he will do, cuz he hasn't proven himself yet due to his age.

I never worried about this with Baasha, cuz I was a kid. However, when I took Baasha to downtown Seattle, and a stranger threw his toddler up onto his saddle when my back was turned at Zeke's Pizza, I said, NO, this is not the Puyallup fair! Thankfully Baasha was good. I was disgusted at the parenting.

TP seemed to calm down about me riding with her for the first time, as she realized I was keeping a distance. If I got any closer than 1.5 horse lengths, both Mag and Dakhin would tip their ears back, "Watch it buddy."

The clouds were rolling in and the wind was gusting, but Dakhin was cool, so Mag was too. I doubt I'd have ridden alone today.

I find it strange that my horse can behave so badly, and then decide to be good and we can have a fun ride. However, I wasn't gonna try to ride him home on Hohestrasse after all that!



Ekstern, full of scars like Mag. (WTH!?)


On the way home I stopped to rest at a bus stop and someone had left a can of Monster energy drink. Mag knocked it over, and then drank the puddle of it! Cuz that's what he needs, caffeine. *lol*




Ekstern with his left-side mane.

I was overall thrilled with Mag, despite the glitch of him freaking out.

Next time, I'll try to get photos.

5 comments:

AareneX said...

Naughty and THEN nice! I approve. So much better than the other way around.

How does this person suppose a horse gets down the trail when the roots aren't carefully spaced apart? SMH.

I swear, it's a good thing our horses are pretty when they misbehave.

Kitty Bo said...

The best part about this kind of day, is that you both survived in tact. And one always needs to look at what went right with the ride at the end of it. I so appreciate the way you are not scared---alert but not scared.

Horseyhabit said...

Not sure if you have it there or not, but I've used Head & Shoulders with good results (good, not great, but definitely better than nothing!) on the back bumps.

Just an idea. :)

lytha said...

HH, at this point, after months of biopsy, meds, I'll try anything, but you know that even the most harmless of meds caused a swollen reaction. But How can H&S? I'll see if I can find some, H&S is not easy to find around here (but possible!) I know it has zinc, and Mag reacted badly to diaper-zinc creme, we'll see.

Unknown said...

Jean-Luc and I had a few days like this recently. We started out, and I thought, "Did I bring home a wild Mustang and someone not tell me?" However, the days ended well, so you have to chalk that up to a win. (Ha, I think? I mean plenty of times it doesn't feel like it). It's really tough sometimes to swallow that anxiety as a trainer/rider, too. I'm sure this comes with time, but way to regardless.