Ride a Red Horse

Today I decided that since I didn't have a lot of time I would saddle Killian and then pony Sassy along for some exercise.  At that very moment we also had our contractors there working on the shop and I knew that there would be a big cement truck there any minute so I wanted to get out of there before all the commotion hit.  I didn't think Killian would have any problems but Sassy probably would.

I took K out and rode him in the arena for just a bit and the headed over to put the halter with the long lead rope on Sassy.  I opened her pen and asked her to come to me. Sassy, being Sassy can't decide if she likes being caught or hates it and generally lingers just out of reach from the gate.  I still had a hold of Killian and didn't want to tie him up with the reins so I asked her again to come to me.  Just as she started to Killian bent his head down for a bite of grass, caught the rein on the gate and proceeded to pull back...double time.

Of course my attention turned to him and the very first nanosecond that damn mare saw that I was not watching she made a beeline out the gate.  (Insert ARGH!!!! here)

I quietly and quickly, well as quickly as Killian would let me, moved between her and the open road and pushed her back towards the pasture.  She stopped in front of one of my pens and started to graze.  I wasn't even going to attempt to catch her, just push her back to where I could shut a gate.

Clearly she was able to read my mind, because instead of moving back she bum rushed me, almost knocked me down and took off out the drive.  Again I tried to move quietly and push her back towards the house. She would stop here and there for a bit to eat and then would move on. She didn't make it far before the neighbors horse caught her eye. She went back to flirt and I knew I had it made.  Neighbor wasn't home but I shut his gate and then ran to the other gate to shut it as well.

She was busy being the town tramp and so I didn't even go near her.

When I got to the second gate I realized there was no gate.  (second ARGH!)

I dragged Killian back to my house, unclipped both reins, and locked him in Sassy's pen.  Oh did I mention that through all of this he was yelling at her to get her tramp ass back home.  He is very jealous, and did not like her over with those other horses AT ALL!

With Killian out of the way I was able to move a lot faster. I have a long rope which I (usually) tie across my driveway to act as an impromptu gate.  I put that across his open gate and then made a call to get some reinforcements.  "A" came right over and we were able to grab her with some pellets.

She was quite proud of herself, dancing and prancing all the way home.  Well as much as a lame horse can "dance and prance".  That was the end of her exercise for the day.

Chasing after her put a serious dent in my alotted riding time, so I jumped on the red horse and just rode around the block once. I asked him to trot and OMGoodness that horse has the worst trot ever.  I know I have seen him trot a little smoother, so I set out to find that in him again.

I noticed that he was carrying his a little high so I started just bump bump bumping the reins in a short seesaw motion. It took a while but eventually he dropped his head. The second he did I released him. Waited a minute and did it again.  By time we made it to the back side of square we were traveling in, he was carrying himself better and soon I was able to sit the trot with that rocking side to side sort of post.  It was nice and easy and we just kept working at that the rest of the way around.

As we made our way up the drive I said, "See Killian, we'll make you into a rocking chair horse yet."

He seemed less than thrilled.