I Rode My Horse Today

I have neglected my poor horses for the last several years. Having my mom living with us put the stop to a lot of things and one casualty was time spent with my horses. I fed them every day, they always had water and hay, but no attention from me. Mom rode in the car to go feed with me, but if I took even a few extra minutes, she was out of the car, looking up the road. I parked at the gate and walked in to the feed shed, so she was out of my sight. Opening the gate would have afforded the horses an opportunity to dash for freedom, so I just opened it enough for me, then walked in.

Our horses have been on the neighbor's 20 acres for awhile, today I cut the fence to open up to our (used to be) property so they can graze both places. I saddled up Joe, my cremello, snowy white, blue eyed, gelding and rode the fence line. I enjoyed it so much. There was one tree and several branches on the fence, but they didn't push the fence down and the horses can't get out. It will probably be the last time I ride the fence line as we have sold this property and will be moving the horses to our new place. October is my favorite month of the whole year to go for a ride, even a short one like today. The sky was the bluest blue, it was cool and it was a gorgeous day. I think Joe enjoyed it too.

I also drove T-posts and repaired a small pen so I can corral my bunch for their up coming Coggins blood test. Then it will be hoof trimming time and getting them all ready for their trip to their new home. I have a Tennessee Walker mare that is hard to catch. So next week I'll start feeding them in the pen, so on the day the vet comes, she'll be easier to catch. Had her for years and she is still a stinker.

You can't see it in the picture, but there is a fence in those trees!

Hopefully you will have more time to really enjoy having horses -- not just the care, but the working with and riding. The reason I finally sold my horses was I didn't seem to have time to do more than feed, water, and other necessities. Riding was something I had always loved to do since I was a young-en.

I am happy ( and a bit jealous) for your day in the saddle.

The view is always better when framed by horse ears.

Awww, glad you got to get a ride in. Hope there's more of that in the near future for you.

(Sounds like your mare could benefit from a little round pen work, ala John Lyons, one of my favorite cowboys.)

I rode my horse on Sunday after a long while. It was a perfect day. What joy. More rides for us both to come, I hope.

thistlebloom said:

Awww, glad you got to get a ride in. Hope there's more of that in the near future for you.

(Sounds like your mare could benefit from a little round pen work, ala John Lyons, one of my favorite cowboys.)

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This mare was abused. The man that owned them had died and his widow was selling them. We went to buy one horse, felt sorry for them and bought four. We slowly sold off the other three, two of which were absolutely nutzo. I don't know what these animals suffered, but it must have been a lot. Couldn't sell them to just anybody because they were damaged goods. Sold one gelding (with full disclosure) to some cowboys who scoffed somewhat at my description of him, and they lived to regret that $400 purchase. He was completely bonkers.

I named the mare Sparkles. She is best described as compliant, but distant. I have never had an animal that would not respond to kindness and attention, except her. I've had Sparkles 17 years, have done everything possible to reach her, read all the trainers sites, studied and applied, got a round pen--all to no avail. She will do anything I ask of her, once caught and gives a wonderful ride. But there just is no connection. I can pet her, and she turns her head away from me. I've had several people I consider to be knowledgeable in horse language and they agree that she was damaged to the point of practically no return.

My husband's mother died and after the funeral, I went back to Alabama to close out her apartment and dispose for her things. I was gone a week. During that time, my husband fed the horses for me. By this time I had Sparkles 12 years. With a lot on my mind, I went to spend time with my horses. They came to me to get brushed and pampered. Sparkles always hung out on the edges of the group, never getting close. But on this day, Sparkles slowly eased up to me and touched my arm with her nose. Just the merest whisper of a touch, but she approached me!! For the first time in 12 years, she asked for attention. I was floored, but quickly got to brushing her and lavished love and attention on her for so long, that my husband called my cell phone to see if I was ok.

Since that day, Sparkles will come to me if I have a brush in my hand, more so if I ignore her and brush one of the other horses. She is still distant. She still turns her head away from me, with holding that piece of herself to avoid being hurt again. It breaks my heart that such a beautiful animal was so mistreated that something inside of her is broken. She will position herself in front of me to get brushed and permit me to do so. That's as good as it gets with her. If that's all I get, I'll take it and be glad that I reached at least a tiny portion of her.

Good for you for helping her out. That little touch she gave you spoke volumes. I know what a thrill it is when you make a small bit of progress like that.

One of my horses was a rescue of sorts. He was a range horse, rounded up and sold at auction. He was starved and mangy and scrawny and the horse trader I bought him from had been free feeding him for a month. He had to be driven into a stall and roped in order to do any doctoring on him. He was plain ugly when I went to look at him, but he had such nice long pasterns and short cannons, and a sort of desperation about him that I told dh I was going to buy him.

He was herded into a stock trailer for delivery, and the trailer was backed up to the corral to release him.

I started working with him that day. (No round pen) It was hard because if I approached too close he would panic and try to jump the corral. So it was approach-retreat over and over for weeks. He finally accepted my presence right next to him as long as I didn't touch him.
I was dying to get a brush on him, he was shedding huge hunks of winter coat and looked completely abandoned.

One day, Easter Sunday in fact, as I stood next to him I slowly raised my hand and rubbed his neck. he tensed but didn't run off in a panic.
He was enjoying all that old scruff getting rubbed off. I was mesmerized and elated and practically rubbed a hole in him, I didn't want to break the spell. After that day he decided he could trust me and we became good buddies.

Those first weeks of touching him was shocking because under all that old winter coat he was still a washboard. He must have been on deaths doorstep at auction. I weight taped him once I was able to touch him everywhere, and between that time when he had already been gaining weight for weeks and a year later he gained about 250 pounds.

Sorry, kind of ran off at the mouth there. Your story of Sparkles touched a memory chord. I hope Sparkles lives to a great old age at your place. She knows she's safe with you.

Bay, that's a beautiful horse. I've always wanted to have a horse to ride. I think I was meant to be a farm girl or something.

Mary

Ah, yes. Horse people always have stories to share. I loved both of them.