No Pain, No Gain

Sun Nov 4, 2007

Went on a trail ride yesterday!! Temps in the mid-40's, mostly cloudy, a
light breeze, barely any leaves left on the trees. Bob was FINALLY in
the process of fixing the gate to the Bad Boyz pasture. He'd been busy
these past few weeks rebuilding the fences to that area, with HUGE
telephone-pole-sized fence posts (because they ARE cut-up telephone
poles!) & wooden boards, all to replace the livestock fence panels they
had been using for years. Nice, working gates would make me happy!

Quzqo was in a funny mood, a little "high strung", a little "snotty", a
little "attitudinal". Like, what else is new!

Dragged out my trail saddle, that I haven't used since early September,
tied my hunter orange sweatshirt to the back ('tis the season), got the
old Crabby Appleton tacked up, and even got him bridled without too much
drama queen antics! Didn't feel like bothering with my spurs, and I
figured I'd lead him down to the outdoor arena and pick up my whip I
dropped last weekend.

Of course the whip was nowhere to be found! I've seen equipment left out
there for WEEKS undisturbed (in fact they're using somebody's purple
lunge line to tie shut the gate to the round pen!), but do you think my
innocent little whip, left by a jump standard, could be left alone for 6
days? Noooo!

So, off we went, no spurs, no whip, but at least a Kimberwicke in his
mouth! I had that much going for me!

OH, the drama! A study in barn sourness!! Hell no, he won't go! The
Emperor did NOT want to go on a trail ride! The Emperor wanted to go
back to the barn and be fed treats! We got to the corner of the property
where he usually throws his hissies, and I thought I'd be clever by
cutting across the hayfield, thereby avoiding the exact spot he usually
wads up his panties. But no, he's too smart for that, and even before we
got to the trail across the field, he jammed on the brakes and started
to spin 180 degrees to go back! No spurs or whip, all I could do is haul
his face around and slap him HARD in the rear with the end of my reins
(split reins, thankfully). He went the direction I wanted, but very
slowly, hesitantly, repeatedly starting to balk, with me constantly
giving him heel pressure heel pressure heel pressure! Yeah, my ankle was
not happy, but it would get a LOT unhappier!

We made it up the hill and across the field to the road,
he started a little bit of stopping but I kept him moving forward. Got
to contend with not one but TWO power company trucks coming down the
narrow dirt road, thankfully the horse was too worried about the ditch
to pay that much mind to the huge red and white trucks trundling past us.

Cut through the woods and promptly got lost! The trails had been altered
due to all the logging they did in 2006, and with all the leaves on
the ground, I couldn't even SEE the trails. Quzqo decided to walk OVER a
pair of small saplings rather than go around them (like I wanted), and
one of them apparently snapped him someplace sensitive, he jammed
on the brakes, flung himself backwards and 180 degrees! O, my ankle did
not appreciate THAT either!

We ended up making our way down the huge clear-cut swash through the
woods which was an annoying landscape of small hummocks and dips and
ground-out stumps, until we made it to the paved road. Not as pretty
(especially with the 3/4 rotted dead deer in the ditch, bleah!), but at
least I wouldn't get lost.

The horse didn't WANT to go down the road, he wanted to go BACK, and the
little shit started acting up right on the shoulder of the road,
side-stepping backwards into the right hand lane! Of course cars were
coming, and luckily a white horse is very visible, so I heard them
slowing as I heeled him back to the side of the road where he sulkily
shuffled along the way I wanted him.

Our next argument was where we would cross the road to get back onto the
trail. He wanted to go back, and started side-passing down the pavement
even while I had his head cranked in the other direction (those trainers
are right; you don't want to control the head, you want to control the
FEET, and at that moment, I didn't have that!)

Of course I won in the end, and scrambled him right up a grassy bank
(about 30 feet away from the trail I'd aimed for initially) and Mr.
Crabby switched his tail the whole time, and had his own ideas about
which trail to take. If I'd had my spurs and whip, I know he wouldn't
have been quite so full of his own ideas, but oh well.

Got to the next dirt road and we did some trotting until the pain became
excruciating (yep, good time to stop posting, when the ankle pain is
"excruciating"), then more walking, and we tried cantering a bit, which
didn't hurt my ankle one bit, but either the horse was sore and didn't
want to canter on the hard-packed dirt, or else he was being a petulant
little snot...I'm leaning towards the latter.

Saw another dead, half-devoured deer in the ditch, lovely lovely. Coos
was worried about it (I imagine he could smell it even if I couldn't),
but no further issues. Into the woods for a nice, relaxing, slow,
funereal shuffling walk. I swear, even with my limp, I could walk faster
than that horse! I bet he was a civil servant in a previous life!

Made it one of my favorite stream crossings and we just relaxed there a
few minutes. I fed the horse apple slices & just enjoyed the quiet and
the burbling of the stream. When we finally turned around I expected a
different horse!

Wrong! Same ole' shuffling mope even on the trip home! The few times I
tried to trot him he'd only oblige me for a few yards before shutting
down again. Truthfully, the way my ankle was screaming, I wasn't much
for trotting anyway. Maybe I should have used my English saddle, but I
don't know if I would have stayed on during that sapling-spook-fit!

Heading back along the paved road I noticed a real estate sign in front
of that patch of woods with the clear-cut swath we'd come through! Hey,
that's great, that means the original owner (who bought it from the
State of Michigan, grrr) won't be making a subdivision after all!! And
the way Michigan's economy sucks, I doubt it'll sell any time soon
either!! When I got home I looked it up on the web...lol...42 acres of
hardwoods...$550,000.00!!! YOW! I do doubt it'll sell any time soon!!

We got back to the barn 2 hrs & 45 minutes after we'd left, a trail ride
that used to take me and Tezlu 2 hours, if that.

Today it's sunny and dry. Today I think I'll drive!