Where The Red Mare and I Part Ways, In More Than One Way

So my last post about the mare saw me falling off when she reared and went down.  After that the mare and I hauled down to Alborak to clinic with Sandra Donnelly.  I hoped that all would go well but I also really hoped that the mare would show her obstinate side so that I could get some help.

Well horses being horses, the mare was a complete rockstar.  The only run-out we had was more pilot error than anything.  On the morning of the second day I also showed the mare in an Extreme Cowboy event, mostly because my mom was doing it and the mare's done it before so why not.  She warmed up well and we were the first ride of the day.  When I went in and asked her to pick up a canter she started bucking.  And I mean bucking, not just hopping around.  My rein snapped and I bailed off.  Turns out, in Extreme Cowboy, you have 60 seconds to catch and remount if you want to continue.  I got back on the mare and managed to complete the course without an issue.  I've never seen her buck before or since so I'm not sure what happened but I quickly loaded up and was off to have a great second day to my clinic.

The mare got a mini vacation at my moms horse before we did the Cochrane HT.  We had a great weekend.  We had two XC refusals but we jumped the ditch and finished on a number!  Things were really looking up.

It's the last fence.  Can you tell I was pleased with her?

The next weekend was the Sidesaddle Clinic at the BarU (which is a whole post on it's own).  The mare was a delight the whole weekend, even jumping aside!

So much fun!!!

And then there was Thompson Country HT.  What a weekend.  I thought dressage on Friday went pretty well but I felt I was tense and our corners definitely lacked polish.  Turns out the judge disagreed.  We were sitting in 1st out of a very competitive division of 30+!!!!

On Saturday we were having a good warm up for XC but it was excessively hot and they were running behind so we just chilled out for a bit.  When we were only a few riders out my coach had me school the vertical and then come to the oxer.  The vertical rode perfectly but the mare stalled out in front of the oxer and then tried to pop over it but just crashed through it.  I popped off, mostly landing on my feet.  After getting cleared by the paramedic I got back on, schooled the vertical a few times and re-approached the oxer.  The mare slid to a stop and spun out left (witness' said it was a very dirty stop) and, you guessed it, I came off again. I landed on my feet again though.  So the ground jury eliminated me after getting cleared by the paramedic.  I didn't even know you could be eliminated in warmup :(


To say I was disappointing would be an understatement.  I had reached the end of my rope.  Between the rearing, the bucking and the stopping I was getting scared and discouraged.  I'm a good rider but I also have a physical limitation with my weak ankle that also compromises my balance.  After the rearing incident I had contacted a trainer friend of mine to inquire about putting some training on the mare.  We had decided that she would head down in August since the trainer would be gone for 10 days to go to Rebecca Farm.  She was at the event and offered to take the mare a few weeks early as she had room on her trailer.  So I loaded the mare into her trailer and wished her luck.

When she is good, she is so good!

Red Mare Meltdown

I love my horse, I really do.  But sometimes I just want to strangle her.

Gratuitous photo of her showing off her posing skills

After a winter stuck in the indoor we are both sick of circles and arenas so we have been hacking out down the road for the past few weeks.  Every single time we go out I have been walking her down into the ditch and through the puddles (in our quest to be a fearless event horse).

Our ride started out really well.  We had hit the 2 mile mark and since I was aiming for a short ride we were going to turn and head for home after traipsing through the puddle.  Well we walked through the puddle into the field with minimal fuss.  When I asked her to go back through to the road all I got was a loud, resounding "No".  For the life of me I could not get her to walk into the puddle (which may have been fetlock deep and I could see the bottom).  She tried every evasion in the book.  She reared, she spun away, she kicked out behind when I used my whip, she bolted away, she put her nose on her chest and backed up and finally she just stood and refused to move, despite the pony club kicks.

Since i was obviously not getting anywhere I walked her down to the end of the field to where the puddles aren't as wide and got off.  I led her through the puddles a few times (with minimal theatrics) and then remounted.  After that we were back to walking through water like a champ.

I try really hard not to pick fights that I can't win but in this instance I didn't even realize we were fighting until the battle was raging on.  While I was unable to get her through where I originally asked I am going to count it as a success.  It's not like we had a choice either, the field is completely surrounded by water filled ditches.  To get out we had to cross the water again.

The rest of the ride was uneventful but the mare was dripping sweat from our earlier battle so we took it easy, worked on our bow and then she enjoyed a fabulous roll in the arena.  I even managed to get her mane pulled and under control.

Posing Fail, but isn't her mane purdy?