An Interesting Ride

The Pond

Waiting patiently for her treats

 

Dusty and I had what I would consider an interesting ride for both of us yesterday.  Let me preface this by saying that Dusty is in heat so she’s a tad sensitive this week. 

The day was very hot and steamy with thunderstorms on the horizon so I decided to have a short ride in the small outside arena by the barn.  After I mounted we walked around for our warm up.  Our property by the arena is close to the neighbor’s back yard separated by a line of trees bordering the fence.  Our neighbor decided to mow his lawn with his ride- on mower.  No problem for Dusty she’s used to motorized vehicles.  However, having the lights on the mower fading in and out of the trees did get her attention.  After a few discussions about going to the end of the arena by the scary lights I decided to take her for a walk around the property.  By this time my daughter had joined us with Grady.

We walked around the pond and moseyed down the alleyway. A few motorcycles passing by on the road didn’t concern Dusty. The herd sees and hears traffic all day long in the pastures.  On the way back it seemed like a nice idea to circle around the outside of the indoor before going in to work.  On the long side of the indoor is a fenced paddock which creates a somewhat narrow passage between the indoor and paddock.  This is where Mellon thought it might be the perfect time to snake his head over the fence with ears pinned back and bite Dusty on the butt.  Dusty being Dusty and not taking any nonsense from anybody threw a small buck and kicked out at him.  Thanks Mellon, I needed that!

On to the indoor and some relaxed work.  We just had gates put on the front and rear entrances so we can leave the doors open for any breezes.  The gates don’t have hardware yet so my daughter closed the rear entrance by propping two metal pipes against them.  I remember saying “ I hope they don’t blow open while we’re passing them.”  And the reply “ The wind is blowing in the other direction, it should be okay.” 

Dusty was on a long looping rein doing her power walk because she refuses to follow any horse and always needs to be in the lead.  After a few circles and figure eights we were making the turn at the rear end of the arena when Grady spooked behind her, which in turn spooked Dusty.  She actually reared a little and did a scrambling “I’m outta here” move. My reins were no help because if I would have pulled back on them I’m sure they would have been up by my ears somewhere.  I managed to hang on with my seat and legs and she calmed down relatively quickly. Apparently, the doors blew open and the metal rods banged together and that’s what spooked Grady.  He’s normally unflappable but in his defense if that had happened to me I probably would have jumped too.

The rest of the ride was uneventful and I dismounted and brought Dusty back to the barn for some well deserved treats.  It just goes to show you that anything can happen while riding even the calmest horse that rarely spooks at anything. To say I was a little surprised that she had it in her would be an understatement. 

Until next time

Quote for Today

How to ride a horse:
Step One - Mount the horse.
Step Two - Stay mounted...