In reply to Kate's comment, I decided to use by break at work (new job! So far same desk! Whoot) to explain...
Anne-Marie and I were trail riding a couple of weekends ago, on a two hour ride, and everything went well (other than the dolts who insist on training their hunting dogs right next to the main trail, with a guy with a dog blowing a duck call, somone behind a blind throwing a fake duck in the air, the guy with the dog shooting, and the dog running out to retrieve... SURPRISINGLY PEANUT WAS NOT A FAN OF THIS).
Anyway...
As we were on the home stretch, we let the horses go. I ended up in a gallop, and Mona was in a canter. Afterwards, I could not get Peanut's head back. He wanted to rush back home, which isn't entirely unusual, but he was doing it recklessly. He was incredibly unsettled, and was barely listening to me and we were having a battle to keep from going hell bent down the trails and into trees. I kept spinning him, as he would not listen to my cues to slow (very, very unsual, I never have to spin him to stop him), and then I would make him stand. While he stood, he would start pawing at the ground, quickly, furiously, StampStampStampStampStampStamp, only stopping when I would point him down the trail again, he'd take off, and we'd repeat.
He never pawed like that before, and he was doing it so quickly and viciously that he was leaving ditches in the forest floor. At one point Anne looked back and commented that he was throwing a tantrum, and I was not about to argue.
I got fed up, not knowing what to do as I could not get his head back. I eventually hopped off, and realized what he had been trying to tell me...
....that damn boot was completely sideways.
I had been peeking at it all ride, and it was perfectly centered, but not now.
He stood, motionless, as I struggled with it. With it in such a bad position, I could not get the straps undone - they were pulled too tight. I also could not spin the boot back to center. I was lost, hoping for Rick's pocket knife that has the perfect tool for helping get the boots on and off (guess who has a pocket knife now?). The whole time, Peanut was so cooperative, and Mona was too, even as bikes went by in a parallel trail.
Finally, I brute forced the boot back to center, and decided to ride out. Lately, when mounting on trails, Peanut will swing his butt away as soon as I go to place my foot in the stirrup, but he was absolutely golden this time. Calm, quiet, let me mount.
As we rode out, I had my horse back. He was wonderful.
1 comment:
A hoof stomper! He must have taken lessons from my niece when she was little.
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