We Don't See Eye to Eye!

My DH and I grew up in separate areas of the equine world. He grew up riding "cowboy" horses and I grew up showing so needless to say we don't ride the same.

Anyone that knows me will tell you that I'm bitchy and that I'm a control freak when it comes to the horses. I don't let a lot of people ride my horses. It's not that I don't trust my horses, I typically don't trust the riders. DH is no exception and that doesn't sit well with him.

One of the reasons we got Max was because Tuff developed bursitis in her knee and I was unable to ride her as hard as I wanted to. DH didn't ride enough to justify buy a horse for him and a horse for me and selling Tuff so we could both have a horse wasn't an option. We got Max and within a week we were riding out on the roads and he was doing great.

Every once in a while DH would get a wild hair and would want to "work" his horse. I'd comment on what he was doing wrong and he'd get mad. I'm sure you can see where this is going.

Let's skip forward to the present. DH, Chase and I went out for a ride yesterday. DH has been riding Max a lot more lately and I think that's wonderful since he is his horse. I've been riding LLL and loving every minute of having a horse all to my own again.

Abby has recently decided to try to turn for home when we go out so Chase has been a bit frustrated the last few times we've ridden out on the road. Plus she thinks she's starving since she has a muzzle on while in the pasture so when she sees that fresh green grass on the side of the road she tries for a bite. It takes all of Chase's strength to try to keep her head up.

I had finally had enough this weekend and I walked up behind her with LLL and whacked her on the butt as hard as I could with the crop! She jumped about a mile and took off trotting down the road. We caught up and went on our way. A little while later she started again so I nailed her again! BAM! She took off again. I think LLL was actually enjoying this.

We road North of the house and then down "roller coaster" road. I love this road because of the hills. It really helps get the horses in shape. Max and DH were hanging back. Max knows he walks fast so when he catches up he stops and waits. When we got to the big hill I told Chase to see if he could get Abby into a lope. He asked for a trot and then asked for a lope and to my surprise she went into one. I stepped LLL up into a lope behind him and I think Abby thought she was going to get whacked because she picked up the pace. I didn't know that pony could run that fast.

On one hill I tried to "kick" LLL up into full throttle but her fast is slow! We turned around and headed home. We encountered one deadly mud puddle that LLL thought she could go around. After a quick meeting she decided to go through it. The entire time the cows were watching to see what that "crazy" horse was doing.

We trotted to catch up with the boys and once we did I found DH trying to back Max but not using the cues that I had used to teach him. I made a comment and well I'll bet you can guess how well it was received. That last 1/4 of a mile was a long ride! We got back and I untacked LLL, stretched her legs, brushed her up and turned her out. Abby was so happy to be home and Sis (who I had left timed to the patience pole) was still bouncing around.

The weather is supposed to be nice the first part of this week so I hope to get back out. Tuesday night I have drill practice and Saturday we have a performance at the Greene County Horse Fair in Jefferson. We have one practice to learn the routine with 8 riders instead of 10 due to the accident at the Horse Fair a few weeks ago. I know it sounds easy but that moves positions quite a bit.

I'm going to try to start working LLL in so that I don't have to use Max anymore. Since the chiro appointment she's been working a lot better and when I do get "tude" I think it stems from memory of pain more than anything else.