Post by spotti on Dec 6, 2008 20:49:53 GMT
Honestly, if my days ever become uneventful then I'll know I've been away from the hairy pony too long 
Since I've put this in the 'hacking and schooling' bit, its clearly about one of those (and anyone who pays attention will know we don't do schooling...)
Anywho, took Faith out for a walk this morning, expecting it to be the same as it always is - nice and relaxed, but she seemed to have other ideas!!
Even though I call it a 'walk', it was more of a 'prance-about-and-show-off-to-anyone-and-everyone-and-then-trot-lots-and-run-in-circles-around-mum'...gave up on the idea about 5 mins in and headed back to the yard to swap her roller, exercise sheet and headcollar for her saddle and bridle (I know she's technically retired from riding, but if I was going to stand a chance of keeping up then I needed to be onboard!). Well, we got back, removed the roller (to Faith's relief, clearly thinking she was getting out of doing anything) only to replace it with her saddle (and if you could have seen the look on her face...it was priceless
), hopped on, somehow managed to not climb the bank outside like she usually does (I think that was when she was telling me her shoulder/back hurt) and somehow managed to get out round the back, onto the usually busy road, survive a few huge rears and somehow not die in the process. Magically we appeared on the bridleway unscathed and set off reasonably calmly on a mission to tire the beastie out.All started off seemingly harmless, happily plodding along past the fields, past the dog, past the other horses - happily riding with no stirrups, and then no reins, and then no stirrups AND no reins, just directing with my seatbones (which she's surprisingly good at) - and out to the Cleveland bay foals/yearlings/somewhere inbetweenies which was where the 'ordinary' faded and the 'unexpected-that-should-really-be-expected-from-the-crazy-beast' began...
She wandered over to greet the babies, sniffing them each in turn and then doing the biggest 'squeal and kick' I've ever seen her do and then she tanked off in a trot, catching me completely unaware and almost unseating me. Luckily I managed to cling on for dear life (with no stirrups and no reins lol, just her hairy mane to grab on to) and somehow stopped her by the end of the field, where we both stood for a while panting and calming down after our sudden exursion before attempting to head away from the Clevelands and back home to the yard.
Again, Faith had other ideas, and refused to walk calmly past the horses that we'd just walked calmly past about 5 minutes previously and decided she was all fired up and feeling flirty so up went the tail and the feet and she pranced down the edge of the field, snorting to anyone and everyone who'd listen - it really didn't help that all but one of the geldings turned out in the field we were passing joined in with this silliness, encouraging Faith further. I figured instead of trying to get her to walk, it would be best to just go with the flow and get her away from the distractions in any way possible before trying to get her to be sensible...yet again, Faith seemed to know my plans and had already formulated plans of her own...
She decided it would be more fun to prance past the boys, the she got faster and more energetic (amazing to ride actually...really springy and she covered so much ground with so little effort - is she ever pretends to be unable to trot properly then I'm going to call her a big fat liar liar pants on fire because she has an amaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing trot when she wants to...it would even make the high-kneed hackneys and fancy dressage horses ashamed) and suddenly skipped the canter and dived straight in with a flat-out gallop and refused to stop!
Luckily she knew exactly where we were going (since I had NO control at this point, I was far too busy trying to remember how to gallop and not fall off!!) and took us round the corner with such ease that it took my breath away (she slowed to a canter, did a flying change around the corner and then went straight back to galloping...amazing!). Somehow we managed to not crash into anything or meet anything/anyone and somehow I managed to slow her down to a canter well before we met the road.
That's when I fell off
Luckily I have a very good horsey who stops dead when I go flying and simply looks suprised to see me on the floor instead of trampling me as she ran off into the distance.
Luckily I seem to have the art of falling off down to a tee and don't seem to hurt myself, just land, roll and laugh.
Luckily there was no one else about at the time (even though The Hunt were about at the time - didn't find this out until after - who could have made the whole galloping thing sooooooooooo much worse!!).
And the most lucky thing of all was that after all that performance, she's still got a square back end!!!!
Quite bizzarely under the circumstances, I'm still smiling and don't feel put off riding/Faith one bit...I must be mad
On the plus side: -
*I've now officially cantered and galloped on her.
*I know that riding doesn't necessarily cripple her...it's just sometimes that it seems to...
*I'm not hurt, not even my confidence has taken a bash.
*She's not hurt (and she's still square!!! WOOOP!!
)
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
Always saddle your own horse
