The Good and the.. Uh… Not So Good

Yesterday was COMPLETELY full of horses. Oh my. I didn’t study at all yesterday, which is really bad since I have an exam on Tuesday.

The boyfriend and I got to the barn at 8:30 and got Nico ready for my lesson. My trainer had trailered in a couple of her mares to see the vet who was visiting the barn. So everyone in the barn was whinnying and acting stupid. Nico wasn’t too bad, though, and stood okay in the crossties. I was even able to manage a running braid in his mane to see how it would stay in during the lesson (I’m not a super skilled braider). But everyone said it looked great, so that made me happy. And it only took about five minutes, so I’m sure with some practice it will be easy to do before riding.

The lesson was in the indoor, and my trainer opened the big doors on the end of the arena to let some air in. Unfortunately, there was just too much going on for Nico. There were four other horses in the lesson. There were three (yes, three) bulldozers moving around outside. I have no idea why a horse farm would need three bulldozers, but whatever. A storm front was moving in. And I think this was the first time I grabbed Nico out of his stall to ride before he went outside.

So Nico wouldn’t stand at the mounting block (he’s usually very good at this). Finally I just got him lined up at the mounting block and just slid on as he walked around it without putting my left foot in the stirrup first. Yeah, kind of stupid, but whatever.

So we walked around and Nico wasn’t spooky, but I could tell he was quite anxious. There were jumps all over the arena, which added to the confusion of such a large lesson. And to make matters worse, somehow a very beginner rider had been told the wrong lesson time, and she was in our lesson. She had only trotted a couple of times before yesterday! Ack!

After walking for awhile, we were supposed to pick up the trot. Nico and I were headed down the long side towards the open door (where he could see the other horses playing in their pastures) and we were off to the races. Holy cow, that pony trotted so fast I couldn’t believe it! We went a lap around the arena, dodging horses and jumps, before heading down that long side again. And once again, we trotted at a gazillion miles per hour. That was the point where I told my trainer I was uncomfortable with the situation and she told me that she wasn’t comfortable either and I should just walk him around for awhile to settle him.

So we walked and bended, did some baby steps towards leg yielding at the walk, halted, etc. Once again I tried trotting him with similar results. We did a small circle, and I did get a few moments of relaxation, but I had to work for every second of it. And he would NOT steer. We almost ran into the wall twice. So that was it. I got off and took him back to the crossties. I was holding back tears the best I could. At that moment I strongly questioned my decision to buy a young horse. Maybe I am just not a good enough horsewoman to deal with this kind of stuff.

I stuck Nico back in his stall because he was scheduled with the vet, and went to breakfast with the boyfriend. We had a nice breakfast, and then I went back to the barn. I decided that I would take Nico back into the arena and lunge him after the lesson was over. At least then he could deal with the scary stuff and settle down. So I put on my helmet and took him into the arena to lunge. I couldn’t find a lunging whip, so I just sent him out with and asked him to trot (we had already hand walked around the arena for awhile before that). And of course he had absolutely no energy and just wanted to cut in and stand beside me. Without a whip, I was completely unable to keep him away from me. Twirling the end of the lunge line at him has zero effect. So finally I just unclipped the lunge line and tried chasing him around for awhile. That didn’t work too well either. He made it quite obvious that he wanted to go OUTSIDE by galloping towards the open door and then stopping and hanging his head over the gate. I tried chasing him off of the gate, but he wasn’t moving. Ugh. It was really frustrating. I really need a lunging whip.

So I took the pony back to his stall and went to watch the other horses get their teeth floated. It was quite interesting. About three hours later, it was Nico’s turn to see the vet. It was storming really badly, but he wasn’t scared at all. He was only getting his sheath cleaned (finally!). The vet at the prepurchase exam said his teeth were smooth, and this vet agreed. Yay! That saved me a lot of money! And then the vet asked me how calm Nico is and I said he’s pretty quiet. So he decided to try the sheath cleaning without sedation. And what do you know - Nico stood like a champ! No kicking or tail swishing. The vet said this is as good as they stand drugged. So that made me happy. And the vet showed me how to clean his sheath so that next time I can just do it myself. My trainer laughed and said now she can pay me to do all of her horses sheaths. She said she’d have to make up another waiver for me to sign, though.

Then, after all of the horses had their teeth done, the trailer arrived to move Nico and my trainer’s horses back to her barn for the summer. My trainer had borrowed a six horse trailer from a friend since we were moving five horses. The first horse on was Bailey, who has taken HOURS to get on the trailer in the past. But yesterday, just some gentle encouragement was all that was necessary and he loaded right up. Nico went on second and I was worried about how he would handle it, but he followed me right up the ramp with no hesitation. I could almost see him thinking, “Hey guys! There’s hay on here!” as he found the manger. In fact, he liked his hay so much, my trainer said when she went to lead him off the trailer he didn’t want to leave! He is very motivated by food.

I had unloaded a different horse and was putting it away as they were getting Nico unloaded. I walked out of the barn to see Nico walking, cool as can be, down the ramp. But then, his back feet slipped and he slid down the trailer on his butt! He didn’t really seem to care, though. He just sort of gathered himself up and kept slowly walking along. We laughed about it for a long time. Poor Nico! What an entrance! So I lead him into the barn and put him in his stall. This pony is really good in new situations. I walked him around the farm later and he wasn’t worried about anything. You would have thought he had lived there forever. I think I have a future show pony! That is, if I ever get him to relax and not trot at 500 miles per hour!

The trainer is riding him Sunday and Monday and then I have a lesson on Tuesday. Hopefully things will get sorted out eventually

~ by haffiegirl on May 3, 2008.