I was away for five days last week and then my Mom came back to stay with me for a week. I didn’t really have a lot of time to ride, with work and entertaining my Mom. Unfortunately my Mom isn’t the slightest bit interested in horses or my riding, so it was hard to sneak away and have some time with my boy.
As a result of the above, Spencer had a nice little two week holiday. I rode for about 30 mins on Saturday and then had a lesson last night. The weather was dicey, but the rain held off, which was good. I had to laugh at Spencer when I first went out to the barn to get tacked up. He was trotting around and whinnied to me when he saw me. I wasn’t sure why he was so wound up when I got out there, but just attributed it to the cooler weather we are having.
We went out to the ring to lunge a bit before my coach arrived. Spencer was on high alert and was a bit snorty. I brushed it off and just kept working. A few minutes later, I found out why he was so jumpy. A neighbour (that we couldn’t see) was outside doing some target practice or something and gunshots were ringing out. This happened last fall too, so I’m sure the horses will get used to the sound. The first few times they hear gunshots, they get a little nervous, as do I, since it isn’t something we hear all the time.
When my coach arrived, she was surprised to see me lunging. Spencer hasn’t needed any lunging all summer and has been super calm. She asked why Spencer was all wound up and I smiled and told her she would soon find out why. I got on and started warming up at the trot. After a few minutes, another two gunshots rang out – Spencer did a little scoot, but didn’t spook. Coach exclaimed “oh my gosh! No wonder he is nervous!” We just laughed about it and carried on. Luckily the marksman next door gave up soon after that and went in for dinner or something!
The lesson never really got much better though. The sand in my ring is still a bit too deep, so Spencer had to work hard at the trot and canter to keep going. ( Coach’s hubby is going to come with the tractor this week and pull more sand off, which will help.) Spencer kept breaking at the lope and I was getting very frustrated. Frustrated with him, the sand and how weak my muscles became after a measly two weeks off… And we all know we don’t ride well when frustrated. I had to take a couple of walk breaks to calm myself down and start over.
Spencer was ignoring my leg, looking off in the distance and was just being difficult. It was one of the worst lessons we’ve had since our early lessons this spring! I’m sure it’s because we were both distracted by the weather and gunshots, as well as being a bit out of shape. I have been a bit spoiled this summer, as almost every ride and lesson I've had has been excellent - we were making so much progress, that I assumed every ride would be good! I'm going to ride as much as I can this fall to keep him going, but the darkness and winter will catch up to us eventually.
Name That....
2 days ago
2 comments:
Neighbors sure have a knack for ruining a good thing. We just had a 3-day holiday weekend and I was beyond frustrated with my neighbors... always making a racket, always in my face watching whatever I was doing in my back yard, always interfering with my horse training. It's only a matter of time before the temps cool down here and more people start moving into the empty houses in the neighborhood. Then the interference will only get worse.
I totally get the neighbor thing. I swear every morning my neighbor must know exactly when I am going to work with Rio. He always starts up his tractor or makes a ton of racket. Figures.
Don't worry about this lesson not going as well as the others. It happens!! There are always ups and downs. And you have had such a good summer with Spencer, that is something to be proud of!
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