O the Pain, the Pain, the Pain of it all!

Fri May 11, 2007

Had the bright idea of working Quzqo in harness last night in preparation for our Pleasure Driving debut Saturday (!!!!!!!!!!), but I didn't lunge him first because he "seemed" mellow..it was evening, he'd had his dinner, he stood quietly for brushing. I had that teenage twit girl help me hitch him up, OUTSIDE for the first time...seemed like a good idea, since we'll obviously be outside at the horse show tomorrow! He was a wiggly head-tossing hellion, probably because we were right outside the indoor arena, and he tends to be rather...um...er...energetic in that area due to all the horses and huge stacks of yummy round hay bales and other distractions. Plus we were on an incline, but luckily another boarder held the cart from rolling backwards, LOL!

Got him hitched, and I gave the teen a ride in the cart. I felt sorry for Coos because that girl is on the "big" side, and probably weighs close to what I weigh, and he was working as he hauled us along. Plus the grass is getting so high in the field that it made it harder to pull. But the worst thing was the no-see-ums and skeeters that were out! Coos is VERY sensitive about bugs in his face, it's almost impossible to ride him in the outdoor arena because he's so busy head-tossing and ducking and trying to avoid bugs in his face, he's more than once yanked the reins right out of my hands (not cool at the canter!). So the poor horse is hauling two fat butt humans through tall grass with bugs in his face! He was cranking his tail, which is now wrapped for the show, so he kept catching a rein UNDER his tail, LOL! It was interesting to say the least.

After I offloaded the girl I went back to the field to do some real work. Forget THAT! He was SO obsessed with getting away from the bugs he barely listened to me or the reins, and any trotting was at a downright unnerving speed...I was bracing my feet against the front of the cart like a harness racing guy! And the PULLING, yee gads! That's probably why my shoulders are KILLING me this morning, I have a sharp pain in my right bicep, and my right hand is numb, LOL!

Gave up on that sooner than I'd have liked, and we ended up in the driveway, where there were no bugs, and he calmed right down and became downright sluggish and mellow! Since it was around 7:30 p.m., there was little traffic on the road, so we took our maiden voyage out onto pavement! He did super, and the evening was SO lovely and warm and fragrant, with frogs peeping and birds chirping...I could SO much have just gone right on down the road for a lovely evening drive (if I'da had my slow-moving vehicle triangle on, I might have gone for it!).

A few cars did whiz past, and he didn't care one way or another! Probably just relieved to be away from the bugs and tall grass and having to haul two monkeys!!

So, at least we ended on a good note. My friend with the Paint was there, obsessing over her mare with some last-instant clipping, and she touched up Quzqo's trim job for me. All he'll need is a little whisker touch-up tomorrow morning and some face gloss on his nose and he'll be ready to go!

A hobbyist who lives in the town the show is at will be stopping by (hopefully), so I'm sure I'll get some good pix of us in action, or else catch the news footage on CNN, LOL ("Chaos in Rural Michigan Horse Show As Wild Arabian Crashes Into Crowd of Onlookers!")

But dayum, I'm majorly sore this morning...those little old ladies driving their horses around must have biceps like Aahnold!!