What Now?

Monday night DH went out to chore and we’ve decided LLL’s name needs to be changed to “what now”. He called me to inform me that she had bumps all over her body from head to tail. I’m assuming she’s having some sort of reaction to the bugs. She seems to have VERY sensitive skin.

The last drill performance was re-scheduled due to the rain and one of the members can’t make it to the new performance date so they asked me to fill in for her so I went to practice last night. It worked out well because I had a gal who wanted to look at Max and I don’t like having people look at horses at my parents’ house. There really isn’t a safe place to ride either so I told her I’d meet her at the arena.

DH is working on MIL’s fence so he brought Sis home with him last night. I took her with and figured I’d use her for the first run so MIL and I loaded up and headed to the arena. We got there plenty early and brushed down the horses. Their legs are covered in bott eggs so I spent some time picking the eggs off (I haven’t ever had any luck with the knives).

I didn’t want to saddle Max because I never know if they are going to ride in their saddle or mine so I decided to jump on him bareback (halter) and play with him in the arena until she came. She pulled up and wanted to see him w/t/c before she rode him so I just made a set of reins from the halter and did as she asked. After that she saddled him with her saddle and rode him in the arena for a bit. He did very well for her. At this time I was trying to get Sis ready and everyone else was pulling in. She came out of the arena and asked if I minded if she rode him around outside a bit. I told her no, I didn’t mind.

I took Sis in the arena to warm up and about 15 minutes later we were getting ready to start. She came back with Max and said he did great and that she got to see his big, bad, spook. She said he didn’t like the gravestones in the cemetery. What? I can’t believe she rode him in the cemetery. She then went on to say how she took him down the road, in and out of some fields, here and there; he saw some deer and just looked at them, etc. My jaw just dropped.

I understand wanting to try a horse out but I would NEVER take a horse I didn’t know out like that for the first time (not that I don’t trust Max). I would have ridden out with someone to see how he did in a group and if he did well then I would have tried to go out by myself. I also wouldn’t have ridden in someone’s field without asking permission or in the cemetery.

By the time she got him back and tied to the trailer the team was waiting on me so I started the run with them. She unsaddled Max, brushed him down and left (remember our run is between 12-15 minutes) so I have no clue if she felt he was good enough to write a check on.

For the second run I used a horse named Omar. He’s a 20 something Arabian (might be a ½ Arabian) who is the “typical” hot Arab. He was fun! He likes to run and I think the more people choke up on the reins the more he wants to go so I let him trot as fast as he wanted but wouldn’t let him break into a lope. That was only fun (for him) for about 15 minutes and then he walked. I have to say both of our runs last night were pretty good but the last one was awesome! Hopefully we can do that in a performance.

I have another gal that is hopefully going to come look at Max either tonight or tomorrow. Friday Cat goes back to the vet to check her cut. It does “look” better but there is still a small knot under the skin.