Speedy Gone Wild!

Just about the time that you think your 18 year-old, semi-retired, school master is D-e-p-e-n-d-a-b-l-e, he gets lit up and makes you glad you're not the one riding him tomorrow. A possessed, big brown horse is enough for me, thank you very much. Good luck, "J." She'll be riding him on Saturday.

While we are having a very mild summer, our afternoons have been in the 100s which means all of the horses have been pretty lethargic lately. I pulled Speedy out for a quick shower followed by some grazing in the yard on Wednesday. As soon as I let him off the lead, he gave me that devilish head toss of his and took off down the fence line. He slammed on the brakes, circled back, and threw himself down in the sand to show me what he thought of being all wet.

He then proceeded to rip around the yard, bucking and kicking up dirt. I sat in the shade laughing at his antics until he headed off behind the barn.

Since Izzy swapped places with the stallion last month, this is the first time that I've been able to let Speedy wander around the yard freely. I had put Izzy in the grass alley in front of Speedy's paddock because I don't let them both out at the same time. I don't need that kind of a headache. Once Speedy headed toward the barn, I followed his dust cloud and saw that he had sneaked into Izzy's much larger paddock; it's just shy of a quarter of an acre. As I looked over the fence, there he was ripping around like a two year old. Oy vey!

As I walked into the paddock, Speedy flew past me kicking up his heels. I've known him for a very long time. There was nothing I could do to safely catch him, so I went and stood in the middle and waited for him to come to his senses. While he'll always let me catch him, catching him too soon just means I have a spooky, flight animal at the end of a string. It's always better to let him wind down a bit on his own. It only took him a minute or two to settle down, but even then he piaffed his way back to his pen.

Now that he lives next door to a very quiet old man, Speedy doesn't play hard every day with Izzy. I had thought he appreciated the quieter neighbor. I guess I was wrong.

​It seems that Speedy still needs to let loose every now and then.