Regression

These are the days that I remember why nobody in the world besides me would want my brat of a horse. I decided to take her out for a nice, easy ride after working her pretty hard all week. I figured she deserved it after her pristine behavioral report, and I was in the mood for a quiet stroll. So instead of heading into the hay field for circles, figure eights and gait transitions, I pointed her nose up the lane.

Five feet later, she put on the brakes and refused to move a foot until I hollered at her and slammed my heels into her side. We jolt into motion, then stop ten feet later. I try a different tactic, and make her circle (something she will always do), then continue forward. Success! Ten feet later we stop again... and so it goes. She refuses to walk on the gravel, refuses to walk on the grass, refuses to walk on the pavement, refuses to walk, period! We go backwards, sideways, in circles to the left and to right. I holler, I cajole, I beg. I even smacked her with the reins. Slowly, so slowly, we made our way up the lane. She got sweatier and sweatier, and very worked up and nervous, and I got more and more frustrated (which I'm sure did not help the situation).

Finally she had enough, did not want to go any farther, and tried to grab her head and bolt back to the barn. She failed. Then tried to pop upwards and get me off. So then we did circles and figure eights at a trot for fifteen minutes until both of us were exhausted, I walked her ten feet farther up the lane just for the necessity of making her do it, and we headed back down to the farm (without a single stop of course). I then made her do more circles and figure eights and finally go back to the barn a different way than usual. It isn't like we haven't been up that lane a thousand times in the past few years- we have. Today however, that lane was one big, bad obstacle.

Looks like for now I might be stuck on the farm.

~Rich With Life~