Bail or fail?
Saturday morning with an ice storm on the way. It is raining buckets, and the trails are now trashed for the barefoot ponies for the foreseeable future. Despite the inclement weather, I make the one hour trek to the barn hoping for a fun drill team practice in our indoor arena. A text from our fearless leader of gastro and cancellation pings while Im en route. I proceed regardless.
Once I arrive, I notice the packed parking lot. There will be mucho traffic in the indoor today, I muse. No worries, I manage traffic pretty well with Q.
I tack up quickly, thinking of doing a session with the new hackamore and testing the limits of communication. Fill my pockets with mints and head to the indoor.
Oh. There are three jumps set up. Hmm, ok.
Oh. There are seven other riders coming in. Hmmm, ok.
Oh. Horses are bolting at the backdoor. Hmmm, ok.
Ten minutes in, I realized that this was not the ride I wanted to have. Q was ok, with the occasional scoot when someone else bolted, and a strong aversion to the backdoor. All things I could have worked through. But I didn't want to.
Somehow I felt the jumps were an obstacle to fluidity, and a concern with the bolting horses and even when my Q would scoot. A bigger indoor, less jumps, less riders ... and more personal motivation ... would have been helpful.
So I got off, gave Q another mint, or three .. and headed home. Another day maybe.
While I was miffed at driving two hours in heavy rain and poor visibility, I am much happier on the couch eating my husbands yummy beef stew leftovers. And I did ride four times this week, including two good trails.
But, somehow I see this bail as a fail.
Once I arrive, I notice the packed parking lot. There will be mucho traffic in the indoor today, I muse. No worries, I manage traffic pretty well with Q.
I tack up quickly, thinking of doing a session with the new hackamore and testing the limits of communication. Fill my pockets with mints and head to the indoor.
Oh. There are three jumps set up. Hmm, ok.
Oh. There are seven other riders coming in. Hmmm, ok.
Oh. Horses are bolting at the backdoor. Hmmm, ok.
Ten minutes in, I realized that this was not the ride I wanted to have. Q was ok, with the occasional scoot when someone else bolted, and a strong aversion to the backdoor. All things I could have worked through. But I didn't want to.
Somehow I felt the jumps were an obstacle to fluidity, and a concern with the bolting horses and even when my Q would scoot. A bigger indoor, less jumps, less riders ... and more personal motivation ... would have been helpful.
So I got off, gave Q another mint, or three .. and headed home. Another day maybe.
While I was miffed at driving two hours in heavy rain and poor visibility, I am much happier on the couch eating my husbands yummy beef stew leftovers. And I did ride four times this week, including two good trails.
But, somehow I see this bail as a fail.
I have learned that sometimes it’s better to not ride. Our horses need to feel good about things too. Realizing that there is little to be gained and so stopping is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteEspecially with the emotionally sensitive horses ... like ours :-)
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