Learn To Read Your Horse

Went out to ride this morning and from the get-go, I knew something was wrong with my mare. She wasn't acting right. Not that she was ill but her behavior was flat off. I knew it must be really bad when she turned her butt to me and backed her ears. She hasn't done that since right after I bought her. In case no one remembers, this mare was uber-spoiled and she fairly steamrolled the previous owners into submitting to HER...which doesn't work with me.

Anyway, I reminded her abruptly that that won't fly and she straightened up. I saddled her but she was still 'off'. Normally, I step aboard and head out, not much warming up going on. I feel like she can warm up walking down a trail as well as walking around the pen. But it felt like there wasn't anything on the end of my reins or under my saddle. Kind of like if you're driving a car and the steering wheel has too much play in it, something akin to that.

So, today, we went around a few times to work the kinks out. She settled a teeny bit and I opened the gates (yep, while aboard and there are two gates to the outside world) and away we went. We probably got a whopping tenth of a mile down into the fields and she did this twisty, head in my face, hoppy toad thing with a snort that she's never done before. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I KNEW to take her back. So, I arc-ed around and we walked back, sort of under control.

Went back to the pen and we went around and around and figure 8'ed and stopped and side-passed and all the while, she wasn't even there in her mind. I don't know where she was but it wasn't with me this morning. She phoned the ride in is what she did.

Basically, it wasn't a good ride at all. I wished for the thousandth time that I had bought a gelding. Geldings, to me, are just happy to be alive while mares can be drama queens. I don't know what her problem was but it went downhill from the time I got to the barn.

Not wanting an emergency room bill, I did enough with her to give her a chance to do things right and then quit her. Back in the day, I would have ridden through it in the fields but I don't do that anymore.

After I stepped off, I tied her up and let her stand with the saddle just barely loosened. After I drank some coffee and perused a tack catalog, I unsaddled and braced her then let her go.

Even when I threw her hay, she was 'off' in the way she charged the fence, which she never really does. I growled at her and she stood back. Then I talked to her, asking her what was wrong and to tell me.

The point to this long-winded post is that you have to learn to read a horse and know when to go ahead (like on out to the fields for a long ride) and when to back off, unsaddle and call it a day. Not every horse is going to act the same all the time, especially higher wired mares, like mine. There will be days when your plans are shot to hell and you have to sigh and give it up and work with your horse. Sometimes you need to spank him to get him going right, know when he's challenging you too. Not a one-size fits all sort of training/riding deal. I believe I avoided what could have been a really bad accident for one of us, if not both. This is part of the deal where you have to get to know your hoss and know what is wrong/off and then deal with it. Or make him go even if he doesn't want to.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be better. I damn sure hope so. *sigh*