Half a llama, twice a llama…

9 June 2011 4 Comments

not a llama, farmer, llama, llama in a car, alarm a llama, llama, duck…*

Have I ever mentioned there are llamas across the street?

I learned this the first time I took Ro out to the big jump field. Silly me—my attention was on the streamers attached to the fence. I rode her aggressively past those, while she passively did. not. care.

Then I relaxed, and then we were halfway across the field and I was trying to figure out how and why we’d gotten there. And where Ro had put her brain in the meantime.

Eventually we found Ro’s brain again and I was able to look to try to figure out what had caused her to lose it.

Not the streamers. She didn’t care about those. Not traffic. She doesn’t care about traffic. I looked across the street. Hmm. Field. With a pony in it? Mmm k. Oh, and a donkey. But I thought she’d seen donkeys before… oh, and look, a llama. Or two. Or…

As I watched, more llamas popped out of nowhere and stood along the fence. Spooky chestnut mares are apparently very interesting. Being stared at by a herd of llamas is not so great for spooky chestnut mare’s nerves.

We went back to work, away from the killer fenceline, and after that I made a point of handwalking her out in the field whenever I remembered so we could walk past the llamas often. Ro is not entirely convinced they are benevolent, but she keeps her brain between her ears when she sees them, so that’s progress.

Today we went out with a couple other riders to ride in the field again.

She was actually pretty good, and where we had problems—getting a little tense and rushy—I think we would have had them anyway, with or without the llamas. She never lost her brain, and once she realized that we were indeed going to ride along that fenceline and I was indeed going to ask her to focus and work, she settled down pretty nicely. I think another ride or two out there and she’ll be very settled, and then I can let her open up and gallop a bit. We can’t really gallop in the arena, but I think she’d love the opportunity.

She seemed pretty pleased with herself afterwards, at any rate. I turned her out and she immediately trotted off to roll (why did I hose her off, again?), but she came back over to the fence when I called her and hung around for a little attention.

Also, if anyone is wondering, the MSM and electrolytes have done wonders for her stocking up. I am no longer wrapping during the day. She is slightly stocked up in the evening, but nothing like she used to be. I throw an ice wrap on her leg while I tack up, and the swelling is out by the time we start riding. I’ve been throwing another ice wrap on after our ride to make sure there is absolutely no residual heat from working in that leg, and this routine seems to be working very well for us. I hope it keeps working for the rest of the summer.

* I know you’ve heard the llama song, right? Surely I’m not the only one who wanders around singing “time for me to retire now and become a duck.” Right? Right? Anyone? Bueller?

Horses and Riding, Horses I Have Known, Ro

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