I've been teaching so many riding lessons I got a bit confident and started riding out my 5 year old only a year under saddle Meriwether WHILE ponying 3 year old only 3 months under saddle Janey Pickle. This way all the horses get out because my paying riders ride the older, mature boring ones that I dream about while I'm on the stupid learning youngsters.
I took out my favorite riders today, the tatted up lesbians as we call them. They teeter on the edge of not being students anymore and in the dangerous area of let's try THIS out and see how we do level of riding. They're 25, so they have no sense of the gravity of how important your bones and body parts are, they just see the fun. I'm there carrying all the danger that's why I have to have so many saddlebags.
We have been riding together awhile so we have a creek trail loop we've been doing and today I said ok let's go this different way, you can canter in this one area, you can get on Meriwether and practice his third ever canter on the trail (crushed it, perfectly). In fact Meri was no trouble at all on the trail today, today was JANE'S day.
Calamity Jane Austen Reaves has only been ridden since June when she turned 3. She is very good about everything, nothing bothers her, she just plods along. She ADORES eating along the trail, she will even eat food out of Meriwether's mouth. They are best buddies, they sleep next to each other, they stand together for all important events like feeding and getting their feet trimmed. So it's no wonder that I decided okay I'll bring Jane along on the trail when I take out the tatted up girls, she never does anything. Then I started riding her half the time because riding Meriwether the whole time is like riding a firecracker that's constantly looking around for bombs. He's steadfast, he's just small like a sleep dart, and ridiculous, like a 4th grader who raises his hand to go to the bathroom during a test he didn't study for, and then stuffs up all the toilets. Because that's results you can see right away.
I do admire Meriwether though. Once he's had another year under his, well I guess saddle, he's going to be the mayor of munchkintown.
So we went into the trail the back way and I even got off to walk Jane through the rocks and into the first water because she is a little picky about stepping into water at first unless there is a tray of snack bushes right nearby. I got on, and lead the trail through the woods, ponying Meriwether behind me and the girls behind them. I got off AGAIN to go down into the deeper creek water and Jane was fine, and then I got back on trying to get all my ropes straight and started walking in the creek. Normally Meri and Jane are hyper focused on WHAT PLANT IS THAT CAN I GET MY FACE OVER TO THAT so I wasn't noticing or even expecting that suddenly Jane would decide hey I'm hot hold my bag I'm gonna take a little dip real quick and while I'm on her back, she just decides to LIE DOWN IN THE CREEK.
I have only been on a lying down horse once, years ago, when Mags decided to take a little lie down in deep water and she stood right back up. This time I didn't know what was happening at all, just suddenly she's at the depth of floor, and I'm sitting there thinking is she going to get up like Mags or is she going to roll on my leg. I didn't wait to find out, my next thought was kick your fucking feet out and get the hell off this horseraft quick. So I instantly as a 60 year old hag can do this, I got my feet free and leapt over to the left (the opposite of where her legs were, thinking that is 4 thrashing feet not in my face and Jane just dipped to the left to wet down her side and then got up like ALL DONE.
It is not a good feeling to have your horse who should be standing be quitting on you under there. It is really the only thing you can't control. I guess bucking is also a thing I cannot do very well, because lying down in the creek and bucking are both things luckily my horses never do so I don't get experienced at handling it. So here is a new skill served up in an anxiety tray given fresh to me. In the beautiful creek, my favorite place outside of Vancouver's Stanley Park Island.
I think what goes through your head is all the things that COULD have happened, courtesy of a brain that seems to love playing worst case scenarios theater and I just sort of rearranged my floating shoes back onto my feet as my body shakily recovered from the why did you do that you don't know the creek rules and the horse rules which are never lie down bro never
Jane was just eating plants and totally unconcerned because she felt a lot cooler now and one of my girls said here I'm gonna ride Jane now and she gave me Dewey and after switching stirrups so our legs would fit on our new rides, she got up on Jane and I led the way out of there on Dewey and I was in front when we went through some other deep water and apparently Jane then decided to LIE DOWN AGAIN and the girl jumped off but then I put Jane on the rope and everyone was okay and there was no more waterpark action, Jane is only 3. Jane was showing us that she is only 3. When a horse acts so mature you have to remember that some days they are going to show you that they are truly only 3 years old. With 3 months under saddle.
We walked home with no more tricks. The girls and I realized that I have to step back a step in this training stage and in water just do one young horse at a time, to make it so I can focus fully on the training and not skip any steps. Horses need all the tiny steps to build a solid riding partner. Jane has to go back a step and remember to not roll in the creek. This requires a whip, a rider paying attention with only one horse, moving swiftly through water and not stopping, until she is solidly understanding the rules.
You do think maybe you should quit. But then wait, you're just learning something. It would be so much better if there were never any new things to learn. Do we think Jane wants to keep us safe? Yes, for sure. If she knew it was wrong, would she be sorry? For sure. She is a horse that adores us all, everyone she meets she greets with gentle eyes and soft muzzle. She would give you her wallet, and her couch. Will we be ultra safe in the water now? Yes. We will lead her to solidly knowing the rules. So this can just wash downstream.
