Yesterday, Monster and Mom went out and Estes had a temper tantrum. Monster handled her beautifully according to Mom. When she got charge-y, he stopped her and made her stand still. He turned her away from home and made her stand. He put her behind Mom and Jesse. You name it, he tried everything in his power to calm her down. Unfortunately, a twenty year-old horse with a lot of experience isn't much match for a fifteen year-old boy with less than a month of experience and Monster ate dirt yesterday. His pride is hurt more than his body. And she really, really hurt his feelings by dumping him. He's not thinking much about their "bond" right now.
As a result, I had plans on riding her long and hard today to run off some of that excess energy. Plans changed; after getting out on the mountain, I decided that a long, slooooowww walk was more what she needed.
A big hug for my standing-still-like-a-good-girl mare...
Just before the big tempter tantrum...
...and one very pissed off mare...
...and now we piaffe (Estes two-step)...
"Mom, I am so mad at you!"
...and passage (quickly on the way to pissmeoff)...
...ultimately, I won and she came back like a good girl.
A roll well-earned...
6 comments:
She really truly does look ticked off... and that is just no fun for anybody.
Nothing scarier than having your horse start that piaff whilst having your preschooler in the saddle with you. I was *slightly* annoyed when she started that on the last trail ride. UGH!
Glad Estes settled down and got it out!
Kona tried that with Itty Bit on her? Bad Kona!
We were out a long time - somewhere between 2 1/2 and 3 hours and she came back just as full of P&V as she left. I don't think I *could* have run it out of her today. Too bad it's the end of the summer; I would have loved to have her feel this good all summer long.
Liked the"full seat sweat" look ,of you pants!
So sorry to hear of the taste of dirt your guy had to eat...she is a firey mare, to be sure.
Well, calm waking...may take more "details" than hours!
I would have love to run it off of her, but she was just too hot yesterday - I didn't want to feed into it. Probably another four hours of hill work would have calmed her down, but my butt couldn't take another four hours :)
I'm getting a little more attitude in my horses, too. The nights are getting colder and that always makes them grumpy until their full coats are in. It's getting down to freezing or below around here at night.
haha - her face says everything!
- The Equestrian Vagabond
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