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D R A F T - - - - Guess I need to start at the beginning.
Chasing her or any horse for that matter was out of the question. For anyone who's ever had a "hard to catch" horse they know chasing is a definite NO WIN situation. My mentor instructed me to chase my 1st horse, "Tahoe", until she got tired. But, no one understood or believed me when I said Tahoe NEVER gets tired. Bottom line, I was not going to spend hours being angry because I couldn't catch her. So, to my later chagrin, I turned it into a fun game. We'd play for hours. I'd sometimes grab her tail and let her pull me skiing down a hill; I'd sing the Mac Davis song "Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in everyway" and Tahoe thoroughly enjoyed it. This often went on for a good 4 hours! I lost weight, got thin thighs, looked good, but I paid dearly for those shenanigans later. She had so much fun that from then on I needed a stranger to get her from the pasture while I hid behind a building. As the stranger approached, she'd first look up to see if I was around. If she saw me, so help me, she smiled and took off running. She wanted to play. But if she didn't see me, she'd let the stranger catch her. I swore I'd never chase another horse. BIG MISTAKE! My mentor once said a sure fire way to stop a run away horse was to get back control: "MAKE THEM GO FASTER, he said,
and you're in control again. Then you can stop them." The first time I tried this was with Shetan when he was a youngster. I have to admit my heart was in my throat, but I did it and it worked. I really
wanted to ride Ritakins today, so I wondered if the same theory would apply here. Tacked Ritakins up, then tried to sneak away without the
'guys' hearing us. Ritakins and I made it all the way to the
gate before I heard the soft sound of galloping hooves. Eclipse was in the lower field alone, but slick, alert and oh so playful!~
  I turned & saw Eclipse flying. I mean high tailing it as fast as the wind kinda flying; up from the lower field through the hedge opening and around toward me. His feet barely touched the ground. Eclipse was not going to be left behind! He he The
site of Eclipse flying with his tail up and his mane flowing took my
breath away. That is, until I saw him throw both front feet
straight out in front of him and slide to a stop about 10 feet
in front of
me! At first my heart skipped a beat; I'd never seen him do that
before. but then I caught the expression in his eyes
He wasn't sure he could stop in time. For a
split second, neither was I! But he did! My smile
 stretched from ear to ear. [Eclipse's
skid marks measured a whopping 15 feet!]
Gosh, he sure poured his heart into it.
How could I want to ride alone and not take him. I couldn't resist! Eclipse joined
us for the ride! I'm glad Eclipse
finally feels "entitled" . ha-ha So
now , that Eclipse was joining us I had no choice but wait for "HRH" Shetan. Otherwise, I'd never
get very far on the trails once Rockin' Rita & Eclipse heard "HRH"
screaming. He rules!
Didn't
take long before I heard the thundering hooves. Here he comes twirling
his head as he's flying. Don't know how he does it without loosing his
balance but he does. The cutest!
We kept our ride in the woods this time, circling the trails several times. I wasn't taking any chances venturing into the open fields where Shetan could play his 'hide and seek" trick. Shetan tolerated my riding RockinRita but he didn't love it, so he would pull his pranks to get RockinRita upset. I wanted no parts of RockinRita bucking and rearing today. So we had a peaceful ride, trotted for at least 20min straight. Felt great! Kept my posting rhythm by thinking "flat stomach... flat stomach" LOL! Bumped into my landlord and his dog "Duffy"
.. Joe actually complemented me on my flower gardens and we had a nice
chat. ran into Marilyn and her boyfriend Alan,
he was actually nice. At one point, Shetan and Eclipse halted,
raised their heads and stared just like hunting dogs when they spot a
bird. I looked in the distance through the trees and saw some other riders.
I shouted to them! Asked which direction they were headed so I
could avoid them. Soon as I told them I was riding a Stallion,
they knew why I was asking and didn't mind telling me. He he They were headed back to the show grounds, so we
waited where we were.
Shetan still had his head held real high. His ears and eyes were still on the alert toward the other riders. After a while I wasn't sure how much longer Shetan would remain still, so I turned in the opposite direction and picked up a trot so he'd follow. Hence avoiding any potential trouble, keeping the ride peaceful *smile* All I need is for someone to report me riding
with loose horses. I might be told I can't do it anymore which means I
could never leave the barn. I had a clear view of the show grounds from the back of my barn, so I'm always on the alert and try not to ride when
there might be others trial riding, schooling over cross country jumps or whatever.
When we got back to the barn I let Rita
open the gate with her nose. This time it was followed by
Shetan
opening the gate with his nose and Eclipse got the honours as well.
They
seem to like it, because each one waited a few moments to
let the first horse get through the gate and half way to the barn before they opened the gate
for themselves to come through..*shrugs*
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- - D R A F T
of course, didn't' want to be caught, so
I closed both exit gates, blocking all escape routes, but each
time I approached she trotted away. I felt so
discouraged. Already feeling stressed all I wanted to do was go for a relaxng ride in the woods and not have to worry about someone catching me rding wth extra horses runnng at liberty. Not "Loose" mind you, but 'at liberty" because, like well mannered dogs, they obeyed 99% of the time.
Updated: 22-Nov-2011 |
