Last Thursday, I got off work a little early and it was gorgeous out. Skeeter and I are having relationship problems, so I thought spending time with her would be good. She's been okay when I pulled her to ride, but I definitely feel a disconnect, which makes me sad. I decided we'd go for a short walk down the farm road, and just spend some time together.
She seemed happy with the plan and off we went.
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| Gentle, curious, and scanning for any dropped corn along the road. |
I have a rule with the horses when we're walking - they can have "fast food", meaning if they can scoop it up without stopping or breaking stride, they can eat it. It's a rule that has worked really well for us for years, though it might not be everyone's cup of tea.
Since I had lyra that night, I'd planned on a short walk, just to the tree and back, which is about a mile.
Life was happy.
Skeeter and I were happy.
And in all this happiness, I decided to stop and take a picture at the farm crossroad. It's a nice, wide spot, easy for stopping and standing. We stopped, I fumbled around trying to get my phone out and activate my camera.
Then, Skeeter caught a whiff of the coyotes. Our coyote pack is large and out of control this year - they're everywhere and they think the farm roads are their own personal highway. There weren't any within sight, but Skeeter smelled 'em and the rodeo was on.
Her head went up, her nostrils flared, and she bolted. Politely, in a circle around me, careful not to run me over, but still bolted. On one hand, I was super proud of how far she's come with respect to personal space, as she had run through me when she was younger. On the other hand, I had to get her calmed down enough to head back home. I knew if I tried to turn her home in the state she was in, it would be a bad thing.
We worked through it - lots of circles, and snorting, and changing directions - until she calmed down enough to spy a corn cob. As soon as she asked for it, I knew she was good.
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| Still a little worried, but happier with food in her mouth (so am I!) |
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| Big sigh, "okay, Mom, we can go now." |
She was in a hurry to get back, but not so much of one that we had to fight about who was leading the way home. The further from the crossroads we got, the more she relaxed.
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| She's such a teenager - can you tell how thrilled she is to have to take a picture with Mom? |
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| Always scanning for fast food. |
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| All the nuzzles and kisses when we got home. |
Despite the freakout at the crossroads, I'm pleased with how well it went. I still don't know what's broken in our relationship, but I'm doing what I can to work on it.
1 comment:
Sounds like she was doing really well until you shifted focus away from her onto your camera. They are that sensitive to connection. It seems like she is just needing extra support away from home right now. When I ran into issues with Tweed on the trail, then Katie rode him, she asked me how often I was checking in with him. I said every minute or so. She said she had checked in constantly, like every 15 seconds. She supported him the entire time. She also had a different interpretation of what he looked like when he was “leaving.” She said his relaxed headset was much lower than I was thinking.
You’re on the right path! Doing something, anything, will get you back to your old relationship. I also think it’s harder in winter because they are on high alert more. Winter is wild time. Who knows what they see out there at night!
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