The Roaming Rider

A draft cross gelding caught my eye this weekend. I contacted the seller and asked questions. I received videos. I asked more questions. I scheduled a time to visit over the weekend and ride him. We discussed a trial.

Then I looked into my pasture at my perfectly sound (currently anyway) able bodied new to me horse, bugged the hubby a whole bunch, and canceled the meet and greet.

I’m not ready to give up on the orange beast just yet. There may be a time when I am, but that time isn’t yet and money spent on a new horse would take all money away from H’Appy.

I formulated a plan which I hope to stick to as long as the orange beast remains injury free long enough for this to work.

Step 1: Get my head out of my own butt, focus on reality and move forward with that. Part of my issue with H’Appy is that he isn’t quite what I thought I was buying. Now I know horses are horses and basically 6 months off didn’t do his training/attitude any favors, but I shelled out quite a bit for him with the idea that I was purchasing some training at the very basics of w/t/c and introduction to jumps around 2′ already installed. No, I didn’t think I was going to hop on him, solve all my riding issues and go tackle a rated BN event, but I did expect to not have to spend 45 minutes arguing that trot meant trot and not canter or walk.

I’ve been through that with Gem and specifically went out with more money in hand to avoid starting over with that.

So when I get on him and have some very Gem-esque rides in the arena arguing that I meant to trot not canter and my half halt means slow and rebalance not use it as an excuse to halt, I get more than a little annoyed. Me getting annoyed isn’t going to change reality though and I need to stop wishfully thinking that he was the perfect gentleman I thought I was buying and instead work with what I do have. I honestly think it is in there, it is just buried under 6 months of vacation and my own riding flaws.

Step 2: Ride the darn horse. Yes, he has had a lot of time off due to his hoof issue and then his back, but the truth is he has had a lot of time off because I wasn’t that thrilled to get on him again. Go back up and read #1 as to why that is. I need to ride him though to get to know him, get his own head back in the game and get a true read of if this relationship is going to pan out or not.

The goal here is to ride at minimum 3 days a week for the next month, squeezing in more time as able. My arena footing still sucks, but it is usable and I have lights so no excuses. I hopped on him Sunday, had a 50% decent ride and will be riding him tonight and Thursday. Wednesday he gets his feet done and the right shoe tacked back on so I can move forward sans one hoof boot. Friday I booked the saddle fitting plus Trainer will be there giving me a lesson as well, so that will make three rides right there with the weekend still available for another trail ride.

More miles, more consistency and more lessons.

Step 3: Boot camp. I’m going to talk with Trainer on Friday about either a 2 or 4 week boot camp. This really depends on him a) staying injury free and b) keeping his shoes on. I think a refresher course for him isn’t a bad idea. It will not only get him some additional training, but will give me more lessons and a different perspective on what he needs for a successful ride.  I’m not sure if Trainer offers this or not, but I don’t think she does. If not, I need to find someone close enough that I can do a weekly lesson during this time. It doesn’t help me that a pro can ride him if I still can’t.

Step 4: Reevaluate. After all that, if we are still not meshing or if I still don’t get excited to ride him, then it will be time to move on. Moving on may look like keeping him as a pasture buddy and to hop on every once in a while as a back up horse or it may look like finding him a new home where he could thrive with someone who does enjoy riding him. I’m not sure yet. I’m hoping it doesn’t come to this and that with saddle time, a good fitting saddle, lessons and boot camp we get on the same page. I don’t expect angels to sing at the end of this time, but I do expect to have improvement in our relationship as a whole.

We will see. It is winter and a wetter than normal one at that, so my plans may go off track immediately, but I don’t have a specific time line for all of this to get done. If weather pushes boot camp back a couple of months I am fine with that. My longer term goal is to be able to do either the jumper schooling rounds at FENCE in February or the Riverbend schooling jumper show in March followed by an amobea level (intro w/t dressage test, 18″ stadium round, and tiny xc where only 3 fences are mandatory and the rest you can do as you feel comfortable plus even if eliminated you get to continue on in all three phases unless deemed dangerous) HT in late spring/early summer.

It isn’t asking much. I was there with Gem who was a lot harder to ride at her best than H’Appy is at his worst, so it should be possible. If the darn horse can keep his shoes on, hooves attached and be injury free that is.

Thanks Amanda for the very interesting blog hop! With more rain coming down yet again there isn’t a whole lot of riding going on, so the content idea is much appreciated.

Why horses? Why not a sane sport, like soccer or softball or curling?

My mind never stops. When I’m not thinking about work, I’m thinking about Wyatt. When it isn’t focused on him I’m going over my farm to do list or what to get from the grocery store or how I need to still stain that new barn door or or or….It is a constant flow of thoughts that never ceases.

Except when I ride. Then all of that fades into the background and all I am focused on is this very moment be that trotting around the rail, jumping a fence or going down the trail.

Soccer, running, competitive whitewater slalom racing. None of them did that for me. The moment I swing my leg over a horse all my stresses and duties and responsibilities just stop and it is the most freeing sensation I have ever had.

What was your riding “career” like as a kid?

Ha! HAHAHAHA! Career. You make me laugh.

We couldn’t afford lessons and I didn’t live near any barns that we knew of. My aunt had a horse farm 2 hours from us and I would spend weeks in the summer with her riding all over the country side. We would wake up before the sun, pack a lunch in our saddle bags and hit the trail only to return as the sun was setting 12+ hours later. We galloped and raced, we swam in the rivers, we scaled mountain passes, we traveled to Acadia Maine, the battlefields of Gettysburg PA, the forests of West Virginia and Maryland. It was magical and even then I knew I was lucky.

If you could go back to your past and buy ONE horse, which would it be?

None really. My aunt had some amazing horses that I loved and she kept them until they passed. They lived a great life and I rode when I could when school was out.

What disciplines have you participated in?

Endurance and hunter paces mainly. I did one CT with Gem and a couple jumper schooling shows, but I’m not sure that really counts as participating.

What disciplines do you want to participate in some day?

Eventing if I grow the lady balls to do cross country. An actual real bonafide jumper show would be great too. I have a not so secret desire to try my hand at vaulting but after watching it at WEG I know it is unlikely. I can’t pull those moves off on the ground let only on top of a moving horse.

Have you ever bought a horse at auction or from a rescue?

Nope, although I stalk the BLM mustang online auction quite a bit.

What was your FIRST favorite horse breed – the one you loved most as a kid?

I’m not sure I had one. My aunt had TWH so I guess that was it by default. Unlike so many other bloggers, I wasn’t around horses all that much as a kid and I didn’t have Breyer horses or read a bunch of books.

If you could live and ride in any country in the world, where would it be?

Wales. Hands down. During my semester living in Italy, I traveled to Southern Wales and spent my Easter break hiking around the island. I fell in love with it and would retire there in a heart beat.

We had planned to do a shore to shore ride on Welsh Cobs for our 10th Anniversary but then Wyatt came along and I think we had Cheesecake Factory cheesecake instead. That about sums up being a parent.

Do you have any horse-related regrets?

Not really. I could say that I wish I rode more as a kid, but it just wasn’t available to me and we didn’t have the funds to make it happen. I suppose I could have been a barn rat and worked off the money but to be honest I didn’t even know that was a thing you could do. I did all my riding with my aunt and I don’t think I knew lesson barns existed until I was a young adult.

I’m glad I got Gem and stuck with her though I wish I had that “training” money back since it did absolutely nothing and the trainer never even rode her , but such is life.

• If you could ride with any trainer in the world, ASIDE from your current trainer, who would it be?
• I don’t know. I barely ride with my trainer at the moment. I love everything KC writes about her Trainer B and if he wasn’t over 2 hours away I’d like to burden him with teaching my butt to ride.

• What is one item on your horse-related bucket list?
• Small item would be to complete a HT even at the amoeba level. Making it to BN would be icing on the cake. Anything above that is a pipe dream.
• My endurance dream was always to do the Vermont 100 while Dusty ran it. It would be so cool for us to do a 100 miler “together”. The other endurance biggie for me is the Big Horn 100.
• If you were never able to ride again, would you still have horses?
• Living on the farm, yes. I don’t have horses because I love to ride. I have horses because I love horses. It’s why I don’t actually mind H’Appy being unrideable for so long because he is fun just being around and he makes my day better by being in it. The question with him is whether or not he is the horse I want to depend on for riding. But in my mind those two are separate.
• If we were still boarding then no. I couldn’t see spending that much money to have a horse I never saw and couldn’t ride. Although Gem and Pete always have a home with us regardless.
• 
• What horse do you feel like has taught you the most?
• Gem hands down. She gave me independence. If it wasn’t for her I would never have taught myself to hitch the trailer and drive off to unknown parts. She taught me to leave my emotions in the car. She taught me to go for it no matter what anyone else said.
• She also taught me a lot of trust issues but I’ll just ignore those 🙂
• If you could change one thing about your current horse/riding situation, what would it be?
• Oh man. Well, my current horse would get his head out of his butt and be rideable for more than a day or two in a row. I’d know for sure if he was the one I want to stick with long term or if I should be looking again.
• The only actual trait with him that I want to change is his herd bound tendencies. Everything else I like. He is not crazy hot but is reactive to my leg and not a kick ride. He isn’t spooky about anything: dogs, deer, water, Wyatt and all his shenanigans. The big guy is a rock. He is honest to jump and will go over what I point him at and doesn’t go celebrating on the backside. Really if I could just erase his need to with other horses he’d be perfect.

• If you could compete at any horse show/venue in your home country, where would it be?
• I don’t know. In endurance it is the Vermont 100 and Big Horn 100. For eventing it is anywhere I can get my horse to and enjoy.
• If you could attend any competition in the world as a spectator, what would be your top choice?
• None. I really hate the upper levels of horse sports in just about every discipline. The over use, the risks, the money that decides pretty much everything. Ick. I’ll support the local schooling shows with my time and money.
• Have you ever thought about quitting horses?
• Yep. I even figured out that without them I could have a beach house or you know take a vacation.
• Like most people have written I took a large break. Mine started in high school when my aunt wasn’t riding anymore and I turned to whitewater for most of the year and caving in the winter.
• Then I went to college, got married and off to medical school. I found riding again by accident when a doctor at the VA invited me out to her barn to ride her Morgan mare and that started it all off again.
• When I was getting ready to retire Gem I thought about getting out and not buying another but then we had the farm and it seemed silly to have a horse farm and no horses.
• 
• If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about the horse industry, what would it be?
• Get rid of money involvement. Get the sports back to being about the love of being on a horse and the relationship. Riders owning their own mounts. Riders doing the grooming, daily care and conditioning. Horses allowed to fully mature before being started (it makes me want to throat punch the person when I see a sales page for a 3 yo that already has a long list of competitions). But I dream.
• What’s the dumbest horse-related thing you’ve done that actually turned out pretty well?
• Gem. No way would anyone have said to buy her or keep her. She was a monster. Flash forward to all we accomplished together and I don’t regret a second of it.
• As you get older, what are you becoming more and more afraid of?
• Being hurt I guess although I’ve never been an adrenaline junkie to start with.
• I’m not sure I actually believe in having a “heart” horse but I am increasingly getting worried I’ll never find that magical horse that makes me feel invincible and gives me wings. I’m a one horse at a time type of gal (well maybe unless I do decide on a back up horse but I have a feeling if I did then H’Appy would be a back up) and I am 36. That doesn’t leave a whole lot more horses in my life to find it.
• 
• What horse-related book impacted you the most?
• None. I don’t read horse books. I enjoyed the Thoroughbred books a lot but that was pure entertainment.
• The 101 Jumping Exercise book helped me a lot when getting into arena work with Gem as it gave me something to focus on.
• What personality trait do you value most in a horse and which do you dislike the most?
• Hmmm….I think I value friendliness above all else. A horse that wants to be with me, wants to go on adventures and isn’t pointedly malicious or mean.
• My least favorite is herd bound. Gem never cared but H’Appy does and it drives me crazy because then I lose his focus and that can be a safety issue. It is also something that is super hard to work on when your horse is at home and you ride alone 99% of the time.
• What do you love most about your discipline?
• Endurance: the fact that anyone truly could do it with any tack and any clothing. There is nothing hoity toity about endurance and I love that.
• Eventing: The fact I can do it in my back yard. Sounds lame but when you work 50 hours a week and have a kiddo that is a super big deal.
• 
• What are you focused on improving the most, at the moment?
• Everything. I can ride 100 miles and end up with all As on my card. I can talk conditioning, electrolytes, nutrition and tack all day long in endurance.
• But I can’t cross that over to arena work. I’m relaxed, loose and in good form on trail but as soon as I enter an arena I lock up my entire body. No clue why. If I can change that I feel like I can improve quicker.

Per usual, Saiph brought up some good questions in her comments on my last post about getting a back up horse. After some reflection, I figured I’d write it out here for future reference for me and for full disclosure to those reading along on my journey.

Is H’Appy the horse for me?

Short answer: I don’t know yet.

Long answer: Let’s go back in time to 2009.

Gemmie had just come home with me. And I HATED her. She was a hot mess, most of which I knew when I got her. 150lbs underweight, belly full of worms, front shoes that her hooves had grown around. I had been prepared for all that though. What I hadn’t been prepared for was the running backwards down the barn aisle when I went to bridle her, the stubborn refusal to move an inch under saddle followed by unexpected and mad bolting, her insane spookiness at all things on the trail (which, by the way, thousands of miles later never went away), and eventually her hatred of jumping.

The entire first six months I had her saw me leaving the barn in tears declaring that she was for sale to the lowest bidder if that is what it took. To say I hated her is an understatement.

Looking back, it wasn’t all her fault. I was dumb and had too many wild ideas in my head that were not based on reality. I eventually moved her to a training facility at $1,000 a month for 5 training rides and 1 lesson a week. It was a waste of money and a complete sham. The best thing to ever happen to us was my move to WI which placed her in my backyard and gave me time to slowly build up a relationship and understanding of one another.

Being completely honest, it wasn’t until about 2 years into having her that I began to like her and a solid 3-4 before I was in love with her. Which again, not all her fault. I didn’t even start liking our new dog until we had him 2 years. I take a while to warm up to new animals in my life.

So when Saiph brought up the point of being in love with H’Appy’s potential instead of H’Appy himself, it took me a moment to think on it. Yes, at the moment I am more interested in his potential than in him and I think he has a lot of potential even if the here and now isn’t that great. Thinking more on it though I have come to this realization.

On the ground, I adore H’Appy. He is a complete PITA. Take last night for example. The water trough was low enough to dump and scrub before refilling. I was in the pasture after putting them all out after dinner, dumped the remnants of water from the trough, righted it up and bent over to scrub away the algae on the bottom. Next thing I know I have a large, sloppy wet Appaloosa tongue in my hair and wuffles of air on the back of my neck. I giggled like a 12 year old and looked up to push him away because the dude doesn’t know the line between being cute and biting a chunk out of your skull. While Gem and Pete looked on in disdain from a distance, he followed me all around the trough “helping” with my evening chore. Dusty thinks he is a 1300lb nuisance. I adore it.

There are a lot of things I actually do like about him under saddle. I think back on the time we went xc schooling right after I got him. He was a lunatic at the trailer because other horses were there and OMG 10 FT IS TOO FAR AWAY  -MUST BE INSIDE THEIR SKIN LIKE A SERIAL KILLER WHACK JOB and the warm up was hairy as he was not paying any attention to me whatsoever. But…once his head was out of his butt he was steady, never spooked at a single thing, took me over every single jump happily and calmly and I had an absolute blast. That day seems ages ago because three days later he ripped his shoe and most of his hoof off and the rest of the summer was lost to his lameness and hoof regrowth.

On our two trails rides, while again he had that same annoying herd bound behavior at the start, he was willing to go down the trail, over logs, around machinery, by the lake etc…all without a single spook at anything even a deer that leaped out ahead of us. My seasoned 100 mile endurance horse would have spooked at least a dozen times in the first two miles at various trees, logs and stumps. And he was 1000x better the second time out than the first.

Yes, I will admit that there are times he scares me. Gem’s signature move was to drop her shoulder, spin 180 degrees and bolt. It sucked and threw me off more times than I sat it, but I always landed on my feet. H’Appy’s signature move is to curl his head and pop up. I’ve never had to deal with that before and the one time I didn’t stop him he threw me over his head where I landed on my butt/side. It scared me. I don’t like it. It isn’t worth selling him over at the moment, but it is a big reason why I shut him down way to much in our arena work and why I need lessons on him to help figure out the best way to deal with it (boot him forward, I know..but that is hard to make myself do when I am alone).

Well, this post is now rambling, but the point is I really do think H’Appy and I will work out once I can actually ride him, take some lessons, maybe even send him to boot camp for 2-4 weeks this winter as a tune up. Each time I repeat a lesson learned such as trailering out for a ride, the second time he is way calmer and easier to work with. If I can keep that consistency up I just know he will be great. He just needs to stay injury free long enough to get there.

Is he 100% the horse I thought I was getting? No. Is he 100% the horse that is best for me right this minute? Eh..probably not. A horse without any of those issues would be best for confidence boosting fun. Is that horse in there? Yes. Do I believe that with more time he will be there? A qualified yes if I can get him over this herd bound issue which is the only thing that really, really bothers me about him.

The truth though is that even if he isn’t the best riding horse for me, I really enjoy having him around. He makes me laugh on a daily basis with his silly antics, friendly disposition and curious nature. Gem and Pete adore him as well. In all my years with them and all the horses that have come and gone from their pasture with boarding, they have never blinked an eye at another’s arrival or departure. With H’Appy, they nicker when he returns home from an adventure, call for him when they wander off and he doesn’t realize it and then takes off in a panic to find them (amusing to watch and happens way more often than it should) and are always hanging out near him and/or playing with him.  I honestly believe they would be heart broken if he disappeared forever.

So at least for now, he has a permanent spot on our farm. Time and miles will tell if he remains my main mount to conquer my eventing dreams with or not, but I foresee a future of him brightening my day for a long time to come regardless of his saddle usage as we move along.

Have you ever noticed that the moment you say “never”, life throws you into a situation to change your mind? The Universe sure is a funny thing.

I’ve never understood the idea of having a back up horse. A horse that isn’t your main mount, but is rideable for the times when you want to and your main mount isn’t able. I mean, I had Gem – a horse who is always sound and has the ability to work more than I ever have the time to work her. Any time I wanted to ride, it was as simple as tacking her up and going. Well, maybe not quite that simple as some days it took me 40 minutes to catch her and the rides were anything but “easy” but physically she was always there when I could ride. What would I have ever done with a back up horse besides pay to board it? I barely found the time to keep Gem in consistent work.

But then Doofus entered my life and has been out of commission more than in and when I looked down and saw that missing shoe I lost it. Poor Hubby got the brunt of it with his ill timed call and by the end of my spewing rage at the Universe in general, Doofus in specific, he told me to go and buy a second riding horse, remove the shoes from Doofus, let his hooves grow out as originally planned while out in the pasture being mindfully ignored until next summer, and be done with this nonsense.

And I finally get it. I understand the need for a back up horse. Thanks Life for the lesson.

It is tempting.  I went so far as to specifically lay out in my mind what I would want: 15 yo, been there done that, no spook/rear/bolt/kick/bite, has experience at BN xc or in the jumper ring to 2’6″, goes out on trails alone or in a group. SOUND. Barefoot. Basically what I was looking for when I decided on H’Appy only double the age because the back up horse wouldn’t need to be my main mount for the next 10-15 years as I hoped H’Appy would be (I still think if he lives to 10 I will be lucky).

I looked through sales pages again. Found a mare I really, really liked and went so far as to contact the seller and set up a test ride (she sold later that same day) and tracked down a horse Trainer recommended as a BN packer type (he requires a lot of maintenance though and that doesn’t qualify for a back up horse in my mind).

And then Sunday I shoved his barefoot hoof into the boot and went for a ride. Was it perfect? No, Doofus is still Doofus and while not exactly the horse I thought I was buying I know he is in there and can feel in my gut that he is worth sticking with. I’m excited to see where we will be in a year if he stays sound, injury free and with shoes on.

I’m not ruling out getting a back up horse though. When the Hubby gives a green light to buy a horse I’d be stupid to completely ignore it. It is so very tempting with an injury prone PITA gelding that can’t keep his crap together long enough to get 3 rides in a week. Back up horse would be there, ready and able to to go when H’Appy found himself yet again laid up with some self induced trauma or another and I could get back to my own riding goals and progress.

The thing that holds me back is what on earth I would do when H’Appy decides to turn into a real horse, stop injuring himself and get with the program and now I have two horses that need ridden and one butt to do so. I don’t have a show barn with kids lining up for any free ride they can sneak in and I have enough trouble squeezing three rides in a week myself.

Like I said, I’m not ruling it out, but I’m not actively seeking it either. My eyes are open and I am ready to jump on something if it looks absolutely perfect, but I won’t be making an ISO ad or spending hours on the internet scrolling through sales ads. Most horses are out of my price range (back up horse also needs to be cheap), too young, or not experienced enough for what I want. We will see. I may look into a free lease option, but damn if I’m not too type A to handle having a horse I can’t call all the shots on.

Do any of you have a back up horse waiting in the wings for when your main mount goes rogue on you?Does it ease the stress of not being able to ride or add more when you see the horse and know you don’t have time because main mount is able bodied again?

One thing H’Appy is bound and determined to teach me is to loosen up, go with the flow and screw perfection. Those are hard lessons to learn at 36 with a life time of being excessively Type A behind me.

He finally stopped trying to run to the next county when I touched his back on Tuesday. The scratch was healing nicely and I looked forward to getting him back to work. Again. The thing with him is that he isn’t always fun right now but I know without a doubt that once he is back to a routine and getting worked consistently again he will be amazing. It’s that whole consistency thing we are having issues with at the moment.

I was hoping to ride Friday but it was disgusting out. In the low 40s and pouring. The type of cold that gets into your bones and will not leave. Yeah. No thanks.

Saturday was gorgeous though and Sunday was supposed to be even better (spoiler it was!!). Dusty did morning chores at 540am before he headed to work and all was fine. At 12:30pm I headed out and was greeted by a nicker from Gem which always pulls me in the pasture for scratches. I should write a whole post on how different she is in retirement. Anyway… there I was scratching on my main mare when Doofus, the most jealous horse on the planet, comes sauntering up and shoves his head in my back for attention. I look at him to push him away and that’s when I saw that he had lost his right front shoe.

Of course he had. He knew I was planning a trail ride for Sunday. Damn him!

Unfortunately for the hubby, he called at the exact moment of realization to tell me he was on his way home. He regretted that instantly as I spewed my frustration complete with many, many expletives over the phone. So much so that he told me to just go buy a back up horse and be done with this crap.

I stormed off into the house and pouted for a while before hitting the sales pages and pouting even more.

Sunday morning was as glorious as promised Sunny, mid 60s and a breeze. I was damned if I was going to miss a day on the trail yet again due to his pain in the butt. Typically I wouldn’t ride with a missing shoe but he has me at my breaking point with all his crap. Oh! I never wrote about a few weeks ago when he came in with a bloody chin. Or Friday when his left front leg was bleeding even though he had been in his stall all day. I was done.

I shoved his right front into his hoof boot, put his butt on the trailer and went anyway. See. I am learning to just go with the flow and make do. I needed to ride.

The ride itself was pretty darn good overall. Well minus my now broken toe. I’ll get to that. His biggest flaw or training hole perhaps is his herd bound tendencies. It was the reason I was literally shaking the last time as I did up his bridle. The group xc school I went on had him tearing off to join his brethren the moment I slipped the halter off.

But while the big man is stubborn, he isn’t as stupid as I once thought and a lesson learned typically stays put once planted. This time he was Mr. Chill at the trailer. Barely moved and didn’t even fling his head when it came time to bridle. He stared in a very embarrassing way at the other horses at the trail head, but never even made a peep. It’s a big deal and he got a lot of Nickerdoodles for it.

I still decided to hand walk him away from the trailer and mount once on trail but I mounted sooner than before an we were off. And by off I really mean it. He had a fire up his butt for some reason and I was happy to oblige on a crisp fall morning down a lovely trail. We even cantered. I forgot how much I love his canter.

Two road crossings later I found the reason for the fire. He was hunting a horse. A drop dead gorgeous Arab gelding that we had run into on our last ride out there. H’Appy charged into the lead and we proceeded to have a much more sedate ride as the other lady only walks and I was fine giving my guy a break. He was sweaty and puffing pretty hard.

She led us down to the lake which is something I never did with Gem as she hated water. The first entrance H’Appy was none too sure of the waves and wouldn’t get in. For some reason the second time we went down he was all for it and I barely stopped him from swimming. He was almost to my toes before I got him to turn around. Next summer we will be swimming!! I’m super excited about that!

Off we went again and soon we came to a crossing with a left hand trail that was a short cut back to the trailer. I’m not interested in H’Appy learning trails always mean run until you find a friend, so I politely took my leave and split off.

Or tried to anyway. He wasn’t ready to leave his new BFF who I’m pretty sure didn’t even know he really existed beyond a big orange butt he was forced to follow. H’Appy slammed on the brakes. He spun. He threatened to pop up. I bailed and brought him to a halt and hopped down. He needs to learn to go away from other horses but if it means I do it on foot for a bit I’m fine with that.

I led him away and he was pissed but followed up a long hill that made me regret getting off. When I went to stop him and mount he spun, landed on my right foot, twisted and stepped off. I knew right away he broke my 5th toe. It hurt. A lot.

I hobbled on foot for a ways trying to determine if I could feel the blood of an open fracture but I didn’t and eventually I got back on. Posting hurt like heck so we walked. Until my foot went numb and then we trotted just so I could be done sooner.

It didn’t take very long for him to chill out again and once his brain was refocused we trotted and cantered a bit covering the last two miles to home and he was a very good boy for it all. He is not a spooky horse and this time I stayed mounted for all the creek crossings which were very full from Friday’s storm plus he went over the bridges without hesitation.

Once this guy is exposed to something he really does absorb it. It’s getting his head out of his own butt that is the issue at times.

He was a perfect gentleman back at the trailer, loaded no issue and came home where he let out a surprised nicker that yet again I brought him back to his herd instead of the slaughter house.

I ran over to Dusty’s work to X-ray my toe and sure enough there is a fracture there. It isn’t displaced so it will heal in about 6-8 weeks. I have a super busy beginning of the week of non horse things (an important meeting with Duke energy to attend Tuesday after work, trick or treating Wednesday night) but hopefully I can shove my foot into the paddock boot come Thursday for a ride in the arena. I’m not taking that much time off so toe be damned. I’m riding.

Riddle me this:

How much time off does a horse need coming off a 5 month hiatus for hoof related lameness?

The answer?

10-14 more days.

I probably sound like a broken record, but I can’t stress the fact that in nearly 10 years of owning, riding and competing Gem , she never had a lameness and only had one incident with a wire fence while being boarded that required veterinary care and time off enough. Even now, happily retired she is sound, healthy as can be and injury free.

Oh, and she was also only $800 and I did not do a PPE on her. I’ve never even seen her legs or feet on xray. Oh, and she was barefoot for everything except the 100 mile ride.

I’ve had H’Appy for 5 months. In that time he has had two vet appointments for lameness, a very expensive farrier appointment with pads and custom shoes, and has been given most of that time off for lameness and/or injury.

Today was supposed to be a great day. I took off work, scheduled a lesson and a saddle fit appointment through Custom saddlery. Life has been one big giant suck fest lately and I really, really needed this day.

H’Appy and I tackled our first trail ride last weekend and all went well. Then on Monday he came in for dinner with this:

Thankfully he stayed sound on it, but it was angry and over a joint so that granted him the beginning of the week off to heal. Come Wednesday he looked spiffy and ready to rock and roll for the lesson Friday morning.

Only last night he came in with this:

Now, Dusty is forever telling me to suck it up and ride the dang horse, so when I had him look at it and he told me no way should I ride and he would need at least 10-14 days off to prevent that from splitting wide open and requiring sutures, I sagged in defeat and texted Trainer to cancel the lesson and oh yeah no saddle fit either.

Plus I texted Emma to commiserate with. Life sucks less with friends.

Adding this all up – in the time I have has H’Appy he has had maybe 2-3 consecutive rides before yet agian needing a chunk of time off to heal something or another. At this rate, we may be ready to show by 2025, if he is still alive at that point which is highly unlikely.

Deep down in my bones I’m a trail/endurance rider. My heart and soul live in the woods and my peace of mind can be found on a single track, hilly trail.

H’Appy killed any shred of confidence I had when he threw me over his head at a walk in the pasture. Before that I laughed at his shenanigans and shrugged off any behavior I didn’t like. Once I landed in a heap in front of him, all of that changed and fear and mistrust replaced it. I now know that he can pull a nasty buck and rear maneuver and he isn’t above being mean to get his way.

All of this has created a lot of tension in my rides of late and I felt like it was time to turn to my trusty trainer – the trail.

The proper trail can teach a horse a lot of things, but what I love most about it is that the trail itself has a personality and requires respect from both the horse and the rider. I ride better on the trail. My posture is better and I hold my horse more accountable than I do in a lovely, flat and secure arena. I know I shouldn’t be, but I am more lax in the arena often times allowing the horse to not walk immediately or turn after I had wanted or cut a corner because what does it matter? On the trail, a cut corner could mean falling over the cliff and an ignored halt could result in getting run over by a car at a road crossing. As such, when I give an aid I expect it to be listened to immediately without question when on the trail.

In addition, the trail hashes out a lot of things in a way that makes the horse responsible for bad outcomes instead of the rider. If you ignore my request to rebalance and slow down and then face plant over a root, that’s your fault. If you stop paying attention and walk into a tree, again your fault horse. Plus most horses aren’t stupid enough to go charging off through the brush on a whim.

With all that in mind, I reached out to just about anyone I could think of in my area to see if they wanted to ride Gem to babysit H’Appy and me on the trail. Everyone was busy (or claimed to be so as not to have to ride my Gemmie) and so I found myself with my heart in my throat at the trail head of my favorite system, alone.

My biggest fear with him out and about is his herd bound tendencies. Once another horse is around, I no longer exist. Pulling into a busy trail head scared the crap out of me and so I decided it wise to hand walk him along the road, out of sight of the trailers and into the woods before mounting. Once in the woods, I realized this was the first time I’ve ever mounted him from the ground and it took way too long to get him to stand still for me to do so.

Once on him I was very very nervous and forced myself to breathe deeply and exhale relaxing my body and mind. Unfortunately a big part of the start of the 6.5 mile loop had been redone since I was last there and they lost about a mile of woods replacing it with a wide open gravel road. I was planning on using the terrain to keep any bad behavior at bay but now found myself in the open.

H’Appy actually did very well. He didn’t spook at anything we came across: downed logs and piled up branches (Gem’s nemesis), deer bounding away, squirrels rustling in the leaves above and cars racing down roads. Once we hit the woods again after the gravel road, I calmed down a lot and put my faith in the trail.

It did not disappoint. H’Appy learned that by cantering instead of trotting he would miss turns and run into a tree. He stayed a trot or came back with a very small half halt after that. He also learned that when I ask for a walk after trotting and he doesn’t, he will regret that choice as he barrels down a hill and nearly face plants at the bottom. After that he slowed to a walk every time I asked.

The biggest thing I hope he learned was to pay attention at all times. We came across my biggest fear with a mile left to go. As we crossed the road I heard horses up ahead coming towards us. When we got to them, they pulled over and we passed. He didn’t throw a tantrum because there was another horse ahead of us going our direction. We quickly came upon them, the lady pulled over, we passed and then she followed attaching herself behind us. Thankfully H’Appy was happy to lead (something Gem would not have done) and I enjoyed a small bit of company. When we crossed the final road though, the lady peeled off and we went straight. Well, that was too much for Doofus who had spent so many miles alone to finally find a friend. He stopped paying any attention to me, threatened to rear/spin/bolt back to them when he stumbled on a rock and near face planted. I laughed. The rest of the trek back to the trailer he focused on me and the trail although he threw in a few melancholy calls to his long lost new BFF.

All in all it was a good time. Once I got over myself and started trusting him a bit. He ended tired and sweaty which is the exact way a horse should end a technical and hilly trail ride even though we walked 90% of it. I’m actually excited to go back out with him and hope that with time and miles the beginning settles down. I think I may try to do more trails and less arena work for now until I get a better understanding of how he works since I am most comfortable on the trail.