You'll Never Guess

Did I made grand plans and then watch as they didn't turn out at all like I had expected? Yes, yes I did. Am I surprised? At this point, no. Am I discouraged? No, not at all. I think that by now I've learned to make the best of every situation, even when it is not what I expected.

On Tuesday I had my plan all written out (always a bad sign). 

Groundwork:

• warm up walk/trot
• trot poles
• canter transitions
• self carriage
• reintroduce the close contact saddle

Under Saddle:

• refresh basic cues
• trot under saddle
• spiral in and out of circle
• ground poles at the walk

I was excited because for the first time since I've been riding Gambler it was warm enough to wear breeches and a shirt instead of endless layers of coats and jeans and shirts and leggings and socks and gloves and scarves - you get the picture. The weather was amazing, but it was windy. Ah, there it is. Did you catch that? It was windy. And when it is a little windy at my house it is a lot windy at the barn. 

I brought my brother to the barn to take pictures. Of course once I got him there I turned him into my personal servant. What are brothers for? *winky face* I think he enjoyed himself in spite of the involuntary servitude. Gambler certainly appreciated the extra attention.

It's shedding season!

left fore

left hind

right fore

right hind

After briefly grooming Gambler to get the mud and hair off, I put the close contact saddle and the bridle on him.

As soon as I got Gambler out into the arena he started spooking. It didn't bother me much, I had been expecting it. He has been doing so well calming down after a little bit of circling that I assumed we wouldn't have a problem. I may have overlooked a few things. 

Things Jenna overlooked:

• The wind was INSANE. INSANE. INSANE. I couldn't hear myself think it was so loud. Not to mention it almost blew me over a few times . . . INSANE.
• Kezi is still confined in her stall where Gambler cannot see her from the arena.
• Gambler hasn't worn the close contact saddle in months - many months.
• The best place to work in the arena was directly underneath the horse-eating trees which given the windiness looked like horse-eating trees. 

I'm sure by now you can see where this is going. I walked Gambler out to the trees (which in my defense he isn't usually scared of anymore) and asked him to circle. He started trotting right away. No big deal, it was insanely windy. Then he cantered. Okay, still not a big deal, he would calm down after a few changes of direction. Then he stopped and started bucking. Oh yeah . . . the saddle. I pushed him through the bucking, but now he was cantering in blind panic. In the same spot on the circle he started bucking again. Again I pushed him through it, but then I asked him to stop and come into the middle. I took the saddle off. There was no point in trying to get him to accept it with all the other things going on. It was just adding to the chaos. Thankfully my brother was there to take the saddle. I kept the bridle on because it didn't seem to bother him and the reins were safely secured through the throatlatch.

Then I sent Gambler back out onto the circle. This time he was a little calmer, no bucking. A few times I calmed him enough to rapidly trot instead of canter, but it didn't last long. Then he started bolting. This whole time he had been cantering, but he mostly kept slack in the rope and if he felt pressure he backed off. Near the end, however, he started bolting at a gallop away from me and dragging me a little bit before giving to pressure. At that point I realized that he wasn't calming down, he was only getting worse. Maybe I could have waited it out. Maybe I could have moved away from the trees. Maybe I could have been more aggressive with the changes of direction. But I decided to bring him in a challenge the trees another day. 

I brought Gambler into the barn, out of the wind, and gave him a good grooming. I wanted to end on a good note, and I wanted to keep an eye on his legs. I would usually walk a horse to cool it off after a work out like that (several minutes of continuous cantering), but as long as he was outside he was not interested in walking. As soon as he was inside he calmed down and his legs didn't show any heat or swelling. 

After I groomed Gambler, I let him back out to pasture while Marguerite took Kezi on her daily walk. Of course, Gambler took this opportunity to run some more. My brother and I got some incredible photos, including my personal favorite (the one I posted yesterday).

This beautiful picture is courtesy of my brother.

Thinking over our session. I am not discouraged. Gambler and I's journey has been  a journey of setbacks and discouragement. But that was only because of my attitude. Slowly but surely I am learning that I'm on Gambler's time schedule. Just because things aren't going how I have them planned, doesn't mean that they are going badly. One of my goals for the day was to work on the canter. Another goal was to work on self carriage. Well, Gambler cantered most of the time and he carries himself quite well when he's scared! 

I didn't get to ride, but I did get to spend time with my horse. My dream-come-true. And I got some amazing pictures. Not to mention that Gambler got an incredible work out! Instead of being discouraged by the challenges, I choose to be excited by benefits and the possibilities for the future.

Also courtesy of Joel