One of My Horses Is a Booger

Speedy was a very naughty pony on Friday. Very, very naughty. Speedy is going to be getting ridden a lot more over the next few weeks. He has forgotten that he is a schoolmaster, safe for all riders. I still love him, but we're going to have some Come to Jesus meetings.

Plodding down the trail.

I saddled Speedy up on Friday morning but opted for my riding halter instead of a traditional bridle with bit. My plan was to do a 30 minute walk with nothing challenging. Speedy's gait was equivalent to a death march. His whole body leaned left as he repeatedly attempted to head back to the barn. I found myself snapping the right rein repeatedly to keep him looking ahead, and I thumped him more than a few times with my calf.

Green dot is where we started - the loop goes counter clockwise.

When we finally made the one left hand turn that points us back to the barn (top of the loop, far left corner), Speedy came to life. He jigged, he bounced, he shook his head sassily. I sat deep and reminded him that he had a job do. And then I kept insisting. The more I insisted, the madder he got. About 75 yards from the edge of the ranch, I saw a turtle which, up until this year's heavy rain, has been a rare occurrence. I circled it and decided to get off to get a good picture. While I was dismounting, Speedy stepped sideways causing me to lose my balance. I ended up doing a vey clumsy dismount, lost my footing, and landed on my butt.

We parted ways in front of the turtle.

I tightened my grip on the reins as I tried to keep Speedy from stepping on the turtle, but Speedy saw his chance. He looked at me lying next to the turtle, jerked the reins from my hand, and hightailed it home. Dang it! I called to him, but he was outta there. I looked wistfully at the turtle and pondered whether I should still take his picture or find Speedy who was likely to step on his flapping reins and hurt himself. I chose Speedy over the turtle, but as it turned out, he had found his way quite safely.

At least he'll never get lost.

As I passed by the tack room, I grabbed his bridle. I could not let that kind of behavior stand. I walked up to Speedy, patted his neck and took him back to the tack room where I slipped off his halter and replaced it with the bridle. I walked him up to the arena so that we could have a little chat. He was not too happy about it, but naughty ponies do not make good citizens. I wasn't mean, and I didn't ask anything hard, but I firmly reminded him that he still has to behave when he is under saddle.

The whole ride from green dot to red dot was 37 minutes.

I've let him convince me that he doesn't like it when I ride him, and now I know why. It's not that he doesn't like me, he just wants to do what he wants to do which is only the easy things. He will be getting worked a time or two each week until he remembers that he is my rockstar schoolmaster. I love him dearly, but good citizenship is very important to me.

I bet he'll be back to his old self in just a day or two.