There was a showing clinic at the barn this past weekend. They also had a used tack sale at the barn up in the viewing room/club room, and I spent most of Saturday monitoring our two tables (me and four other ladies ganged up). I personally did "okay" selling my crappy old stuff and some Breyers, think I made around $26 or so. Spent nearly that much, LOL...bought Quzqo a new bit (like he needs any more). A cool Dee-ring snaffle with copper rollers on the mouthpiece! Haven't tried it yet, we'll do that tomorrow! Also got him a "new" used set of splint boots, cool rigid plastic/vinyl in PURPLE (an Imperial color at least)...his old set of splint boots are torn to hell from him striking his inside right fetlock w/his other hooves.
And got myself a new used pair of Breeches, BIG and comfy, LOL...not a 30" waist like my current pair that I have to lay down on the bed to zip them up, ha! (they were free, can't complain). Tack sales are always fun!
That late afternoon they had an auction of NEW horse equipment...the barn owner's buddy from downstate came up w/his big trailer full of stuff to sell, they do that a couple of times a year and SOMEhow I always end up finding things I MUST HAVE! Damned auctions, LOL! Ended up w/5 rolls of VetWrap ($1.50 ea), a PURPLE ladies' lunge whip (lightweight, and matches C Quzqo's new splint boots!) (I now own 7 whips...that's scary!), got a nice pair of leather work gloves for $5, a set of saddle bags w/water bottle holders...only later did I discover they were pommel bags, which fit over your saddle horn! Except my saddle doesn't HAVE a horn! GRRRGH! Have to figure out SOMEthing I guess. I also invested $9 in a set of stirrups which fit over your saddle for kiddies to ride...you can adjust the stirrup length to little short legs...except..duuuh, it has to slip over a SADDLE HORN...again, an object my saddle is lacking! ARRGH! Again, I'll have to figure out something, *sigh*.
Best buy of the day was a "Jolly Ball" horse toy...thick rubber ball w/a "handle" on it, puncture-proof, squishable...no, not for the horse, but for the dogs! LOL, when I got home that evening I tossed it to the dogsters and they went right for it, grabbed it by the handle and bombed triumphantly around the yard, delighted out of their minds! When I threw it to Leela the Dal, the idiot dog didn't "get" the handle, and was trying to bite the ball (it's about 10" in diameter), LOL! She got mad and started barking at it...Monty the Corgi looked at her like "What? Are you stoopid???" ha! As of this date I have NO idea where it is, they lost it somewhere in the yard already, *sigh*.
Sunday morning was the benefit Poker Run trail ride, something I was looking forward to! Keep in mind though...I hadn't ridden Quzqo since THURSDAY...and to say the lad was well-rested would be an understatement, heh heh.
First and foremost, I did NOT fall off the horse! Huzzah! In fact, nobody on the trail ride suffered any injury or mishap worse than a couple of horses deciding to drop and try to roll at some of the card stops (got some good ideas for live show Trail setups, lol).
Perfect weather Sunday, temps in the mid-60's, high overcast, good 10 mph breeze (blew the bugs away), could hardly ask for better! A good crowd showed up, around 25 horses & riders, from 3 yrs old to 60+ (okay, the 3 yr old rode double with her mom, but still). A good cross-section of horses too...lots of QHs, Paints, a Morgan, 3 TWHs, a pony mule, and... of course...ONE particular Arabian!
When I dragged my boy, Quzqo from his stall (after bringing him in from the pasture to see if he had to pee), he was like a sulky 10 yr old who didn't want to do chores...slogging, dragging, dawdling, shuffling along..."I don' wanNA!", LOL! Good, he must be TIRED (ha ha, right). We all got our first cards (Jack of Diamonds, that was a good start), and we were off! Right off riding along a roadside, which normally would fill my heart with terror (the horse isn't afraid of the traffic, but I've been so traumatized by riding along the road with spooky Tezlu [let's SPOOK and swing our hindquarters out into the lane of traffic with an 18-wheeler coming our way!], I'm normally the basket case). Luckily the sight of 25 horses along the road caused any car/truck to slow WAAAAY down, if only to gawk, LOL! (hate it when they go whizzing past at 60 mph, their rear view mirrors passing within a foot of your toe in the stirrup!)
The horses were as excited as the people, was amusing to see the normally blase' show horses who so nicely plod around the arenas, doing "the Big Ben" sideways down the road, LOL, and I was well-pleased that Coos was walking smartly onward, past the scary mail boxes and dumpsters, and gradually falling behind.
All went well until we reached a neighboring horse farm...the lady there raises beautiful TWHs and has granted permission for trail riders to use the sandy two-track along her property to reach the State land behind it. Unfortunately that road follows her fenced pastures full of VERY active TWHs! She had a gorgeous dark palomino in the front paddock who was BOMBING back and forth along his fence, tail flagging, neck arched, snorting and whinneying. Now Quzqo is a gentle sort, tries to stay out of trouble and doesn't like conflict. Let's just sum up the following events by saying my horse was TERRIFIED of that horse...and the horse in the next paddock which was also running and snorting, and Coos was from then on totally APESHIT with TERROR at EVERY damned thing along the two-track! In fact, I couldn't even get him onto the two-track, he decided he'd gone close enough and it was time to go home, and started to rear and spin! Not his normal little bunny hops, we're talking Hi-Yo Silver AWAY!
I didn't have time to be afraid, I was more frustrated and pissed off, frankly, but all I could do was keep spinning him in circles, the second we stopped, he'd rear up and spin again, once he even started off back to the barn, but a one-rein haul yanked him back to Earth! Thankfully four other riders had slower horses than me, and were coming up to us, and even though their horses were also upset by the TWHs, their presence helped Coos make it onto the two-track (that and a pop to the ass w/my dressage whip).
It was an adventurous 200 yard ride down the two track, because then everything was terrifying for ALL the horses...bales of wire, a manure spreader, and much to our despair, up ahead there was a band of 6 horses all galloping back and forth, harassing the trail riders up ahead of us. Thankfully those riders kept that band distracted and they never did notice us...last thing we wanted was a herd of horses galloping at us...I knew Coos would totally lose his brain if that happened. But as bad as that was, the horrific terrible PILE OF CINDER BLOCKS on the right side of the road was worse...Coos jammed on his brakes, reared and spun backwards right into the QH behind us, smacking into his shoulder! I felt bad because that was the woman w/her 3 year old riding behind her, but they were okay.
Got past that mess into the woods, where suddenly the horses decided that stumps and logs were SCARY!! Quzqo was a total brain-free idiot, jamming on the brakes, rearing and spinning (fun w/trees all around). Pretty soon that settled down
into mere veering off the side of the trail, giving the offending stump the hairy eyeball. We got into the deep woods, free from galloping, snorting horses and stray manure spreaders, but Coos was still upset because we were behind the other horses and he had to keep up! JiggyTrotJiggyTrotwalkwalkwalkTrotTrotwalkwalk! AUUGH! Eventually we oozed up in front of the others, and with a clear path ahead, the horse just settled right down, heaved a big sigh, and trucked onward on a loose rein!
With his long Arabian stride, we soon left the QHs far behind us...if I tried to stop and wait, Coos got upset and wiggly, so I figured they didn't really need us, and it was upsetting my horse, trying to keep him slowed down, and we were on the side of a hill with lots of trees that wouldn't be pleasant to rear into, so I just let him go forward. The rest of the riders were so far ahead of us, we couldn't even hear them. So we were pretty much alone in the woods. The change in the horse was amazing! He settled right down, listened to ME (we are going to WALK over that log, we are not going to JUMP it), and he dropped his head and sniffed the ground like a bloodhound as we walked along. Heck, I finally was ENJOYING the ride!! He even stopped for me and stood still as a rock while I snapped some pictures. THAT was the horse I know and love, thank you!
Caught up with the other 20 riders at the trail camp/watering hole & got my second card (Queen of Hearts), and once the stragglers caught up (Coos and I were a good 10 minutes ahead of them, lol), off everybody went again! We got stuck in the middle of the pack, which, needless to say, upset the horse, and again it was JiggyTrot JiggyTrot walkwalkwalk TrotTrotwalkwalk HeadTossHeadToss JigJigJig. One thing owning Tezlu for 15 years taught me was techniques for maneuvering through a pack of trail riders to get to the front (Tez HAD to be in the front, nothing else would do)....eventually we got ahead of the TWHs which were leading the pack (because they were the fastest, most the QHs ended up in the back). Once we got in front of them we were able to keep ahead by a good 15 feet or so, and the ride became enjoyable again. Got to the third card spot (the barn owner's son-in-law just drove to the spots w/his pick-up & waited, ha. After the first stop, the first horse to arrive was Coos!) Think that was a 6 of Spades for me. Bleah!
Managed to keep Coos pretty much in front the rest of the way, and I thought he was finally tiring out (3 hrs into the ride!), because he was letting the other horses pass him. After the next-to-the-last card stop (Ace of Hearts), the horse recognized the road and knew where he was! Uh Oh! When we continued on (after 4 or so riders had to dash into the woods because they apparently couldn't hold it for another 30 minutes!), all bets were off, Coos was headin' HOME! We passed the TWHs in the front (Grrr...Smug riders as they gait along w/o a care, grrrr) and left them in the dust as Coos got into his GOOD trot...his long-striding floaty trot that is NICE! Heck, we left 'em ALL behind...nothing nicer than a long, empty dirt road! I didn't know that the gal riding one of Coos's Pasture Pals was following us...I also didn't know that she couldn't control the horse, so now, in retrospect, I feel bad (a little). After about half a mile (including through some woods) I saw motion out of the corner of my eye, and up comes that girl on the sweaty grey QH! Apparently he'd just took off after Coos, leaving everybody behind! Which ticked ME off because the instant you add another horse to the mix, my horse stops listening to ME...and since the girl couldn't control Colby, HE took off trotting, which got Coos wanting to race after him, and we were entering a forest with narrow winding trails and logs across the trail....yes, the jumping thing raised its ugly head!
My mistake was trying to stop my horse while the other horse took off cantering....I got him turned around, but he started rearing and spinning and trying to bolt to keep up with Colby. I was fuming by that time and have to admit that I sort of lost that fight. I did slow him down enough that he was able to STEP over the log instead of leaping it, but I gave up after that, and once I released the rein pressure, the horse calmed down and slowed down to a civilized trot. Once we got to the dirt road leading to the barn, I made him trot when he wanted to slow down, and we kept pace with Colby until we approached a couple walking a dog. I made the girl slow her horse down...using the dog-walkers as the excuse, plus she needs to learn trail etiquette and not to gallop back to the barn. By that time the horses needed a chance to cool down, lol!
Once we got back on the barn property, Coos just mellowed out and happily do-bopped along the fenceline, probably imagining the big buckets full of golden grain waiting just for HIM (yeah, right). And in the grand tradition of Tezlu...we were the first back to the barn, beating the rest of the riders by a good 20 minutes, LOL! In fact, when I had dismounted at the barn, the first of the riders were just coming off the dirt road into the field...a good mile away! HA! (Tezlu used to just trot so fast and so far, we'd always beat the rest back, even when he was a 26 yr old fart!) One of the barn moms was there and even asked me how "Tezlu" did on the trail ride, because she saw us coming back first, LOL! We agreed Tez must have posessed Coos' body and took over, ha!
We got our last cards, mine was some totally useless black card I don't even remember. One of the ladies got a Royal Flush, and the barn owner's 5 yr old grand daughter got a really good hand too, can't remember what though. Well, it got me out in the fresh air, I learned some things about my horse (like, don't go out w/more than one other horse!), I didn't fall off, and got my adrenalin rush for the week!
Did a little research online this afternoon re: rearing, and turns out I did the EXACT recommended thing when the little shit reared...release the rein, yank 'em in a circle, and kick them forward (or pop 'em in the ass with a whip). Keep them moving forward, they can't rear if they're moving forward! Good to know!
Tonight I stopped out at the barn after work, and the little shit was already in his stall, throwing an Imperial Hissy because His Food was Not In The Imperial Bucket! Oh Horrors! He got brushed for his effort, and lunged as well (had to try out the new splint boots). Amazing after he got lunged and a little Clinton Anderson Desensitization Treatment (I did the thing where you flick your hand in their face until they stop flinching...Coos has Issues with his right side...but he settled down to lick & chew rather quickly)...a little showmanship practice (we're horrible! Absolutely wretched!!)...totally different horse. Very calm and cute and cuddly and nice...he's a wimp at heart, LOL!
12 days until our first horse show! Let the adventure begin!
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