At the end of a long day of watching horse and talking about horses, I finally decided to go see my own horse. Talk about horseflesh! She is still just the prettiest thing. She met me at the gate, which was encouraging, but then proceeded to be very pushy, mouthing me and rushing me when we walked. I had to turn her around and back her up a couple of times. In leading her around, I learned that the feeders were there, and her pasture had not yet been fed, so I had an explanation for her behavior but not an excuse. So they put her feed in her stall, and I took her in there, requiring politeness (which she did give me, grudgingly), and let her eat. I actually love doing this because she loves her food so much (probably because she was on the hungry side where she came from) and I get the credit for giving it to her. When she was finished, I put her back, as it was getting dark, and she was still a little pushy, but mostly okay. But she swung away from me to take a drink and wouldn't meet my eye again. It hurt my feelings that we were so close just 10 days ago, and now she was giving me the brush off. (Yes, I know she's a mare, but she's supposed to be my mare.)
So today, I took my young friend who is the daughter of longtime friends of ours with me to see her. And we ended up having so much fun. First, Skye whinnied at us when we walked up and came over to the gate to meet me. Then she was a good girl all the way in. I just lunged her for 5 minutes in the big ring (I need to speak to the vet about what I can do with her right now to help her get sound), and only once did she really take her attention off me. And even then, Mr. Tall Chestnut and Handsome himself, Nigel, was whinnying about something in the round pen, which would be a bit much for anyone to ignore. So I ended on a good note, and took her in for some grooming.
Luckily, Erin was there and showed us all how to give Skye her pain shot. Skye was such a good girl about it, of course. She is so good about most things really. Such a good horse. Then Erin told us that she was going to give a group lesson, and if we wanted to saddle up, we could join. So we did.
And here's where I really cheated - I rode Ike, one of The Incredibles! At 18.3 hands, he is the biggest horse I have ever seen, and easily one of the most beautiful. For your viewing pleasure:
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| Ike, an Incredible in more ways than one. |
See?
Anyway, tacking him up was an adventure because you have to find a girth and match it with girth extenders to get a saddle on him. Getting the bridle on is also interesting because he is so flippin' tall that even when he lowers his head, your arms ache from being up so high. He's an absolute prince about the whole thing though. As I have mentioned before, he is a rescue, and in his checked past he was used to haul logs, causing him some damage to his back end. Cliche though it is, he is a gentle giant. I'm completely in love with him now. (I was only partially in love with him before.)
Riding him is like sitting on top of the world. You are so much higher than everyone else, you feel like a huge SUV in a sea of Matchbox cars. Very fun. He was so much fun to ride too. His trot was so smooth that it was easier to sit than to post, so I practiced my sitting trot and really enjoyed it. (A sitting trot on Skye is a rather punishing affair.) Erin had us practice steering the horses with our seat, legs and intention (looking where you want to go, as the horse can feel it), and he was just great. He made me look good.
Then on the way out, we stopped by the fence to say good-bye to my girl. She came right over, and I cheated and gave her a carrot. After all, I had been steppin' out on her, even if she didn't know or care.
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