Back in the Saddle Again
The weather gods heard my comment about winter being over and chose to smite me via freezing temperatures last night.
To remind me that they are still watching, I don’t think we got much above 45 today.
I am duly chastised.
My fingers are also duly frozen.
Despite the cold weather, I hopped on Ro today. Sure, she hasn’t been ridden in ages. Sure, she didn’t get worked at all yesterday. Sure, she’s had limited turnout. Sure, she’s five and less than a year under saddle. Sure, it was in the low 40s and feeding time.
Why wouldn’t I hop on her, given all of that?
All things considered, she was very good. My plan from the beginning was to just get on and walk. Lots and lots of walking. The footing is still a little deep due to the rain, so walking was workout enough for a first ride back.
For better or worse, I’m not someone who thinks a horse needs to be immediately, 100% mentally focused when they have had time off and I get back on them. I really don’t care how trained they are. If I can spend Monday mornings staring at my computer screen and trying to remember what a Shift key is and why I might want to use it, I think I can cut the horse some slack on their first day or two back, too. All I want from the first ride or two back is for the horse to be honest, obedient, and to get their head back in the game.
So my other reason for only walking was to make it a nice, low-key hack. I wanted it to be an easy mental and physical ride.
All things considered, she really was very good. She jigged a bit, but she came back to the walk when asked. She reminded me that the ditch is full of dead people and other things that eat horses, but she walked down the long side in a more-or-less straight line. True, she walked like she was in training for the world speed walking championships, but forward is never a bad thing.
For most of the ride, she was on high alert:
A leaf moved on that bush! And that one! And that one! OMG! All the leaves are moving! Speed walk!
There’s a car in the road! Must watch the car! Speed walk with a rubber neck!
Is that a wheelbarrow in the barn? I swear I hear a wheelbarrow. My hay gets delivered in a wheelbarrow. That’s the sound of food! I want food! Why are we marching through mud in the arena when someone could be putting food in my stall right now?!
She settled in, though, and started to focus and relax. As soon as she began consistently reaching into the bit and stretching down, I called it a day. That seemed like a good stopping point. Also, my fingers were frozen, but that’s just extenuating circumstances.
And, frankly, in addition to the cold and everything else, she was probably picking up on my energy, too.
It’s like she knows what’s coming this weekend…
shinyfluff says 5 February 2011
super post, very funny! Loved the description of ro’s mental state in the ring….sounds familiar hahaha!