Horse Horror

Carole and I took advanage of what looks to be the last truely nice day for a while, and took Rocky and Tonka out for a ride. First we went South on 221 to the hay feild on highway 16. Rocky was frightened by the neighbours entrance rocks and a round bale hidden in the trees....Tonka was only afraid of Rocky spooking! By the time we turned around to come back Rocky's one sided spooking had my saddle off to the side. So we headed back and then continued north down 221. Rocky was afraid of another entrance rock and a sign. Tonka, still afraid of nothing. Neither horse seemed to even notice the deer that we saw just across the road...the deer was playing statue which may explain why.

So we got as far as I planned on going, when I got the bright idea of looping back through the subdivision...what I didn't realize was that the 3rd entrance is a dead end...and that that is where the mini donkeys live. We put brave Tonka in the lead to go by the donkeys...and wow...I have never seen Tonka move so fast or so sideways when the second mini came galloping to the gate! Mr Scaredy Rocky didn't even look their way. Fortuantely the little guys didn't start breying until we passed...what a rediculous sound, and I am sure that would have pushed them both over the edge. Just as we passed that calamity, we realized we had to go back that way...so we walked the loop, oogled the odd looking/kind of cool house at the end of that road...and then decided to hide in the opposite ditch to make it past the killer mini donkeys. Both horses survived and we made it home in one peice.

Ditch riding is fairly new to me. Not something we ever could do at Whitemud. I did a little at Sunrise when Niki (Tango's mom) was super mellow pregnant mare, but at Amberlea it would have been frowned on by my trainers. And really, it just doesn't seem that safe to ride by speeding cars! Apparently though, horses are just as keen to stay away from the cars, and our ditches are plenty wide. The main risk with ditch riding here, is the ignorant idiots (yes, I am calling people idiots again) that throw beer cans and bottles in the ditch! And what is with all the CD's? I understand paper and plastic blowing out of the back of trucks or out of garbages, or being carried off by crafty crowns, but not all the bottls and cans. Very annoying and I would really like to know the thought process involved.

Once again, I blame teenagers.

Alas, I think this week is mostly going to be raining...which is good for the grass, but it means we will be back in the indoor arena...so what can we work on in the indoor arena that doesn't require me to carry too many jumps but that is challenging? No stirrup work perhaps? Maybe an obstacle course using lateral work to negotiate?

Oh, and thanks to Wendy for letting me know the Comments feature was not properly configured! I think I have it fixed now, but let me know if you have trouble commenting.

Karen