Canter Canter Canter!

I feel like I have my mojo back. Maybe I never had any in the first place but either way, I feel like I've got some now. Robert said that I should play with Star, take Reno out, and have Keno pull the tire if I wanted to work on his cart training. So I started with Star.

I forgot to put on my riding boots this morning and apparently dont have any riding pants at the barn right now so I rode in a western saddle (I was going to do that anyway) and jeans with half chaps. I have never felt so stiff in my own clothing but I got it all straightened out such that I could get my legs into the right position if I were so inclined. (I try, but, you know.) I also put on my body armor because I always feel basically invincible in a western saddle and body armor. I took a bat and put it in my half chap just in case.

Star was terrified of something basically as soon as we got out in the field. I couldn't figure out what it was. She was nervous about it most of the way around the field. I kept looking for the source of her distress so I could decide how I wanted to deal with it. Finally after coming out of the curves and going halfway down the field I saw Jessie and Bella (chunky but nice looking belgian x arab x paint). Apparently she is really scary. I decided I didn't want to go over there, in case seeing that it was a horse opened another can of worms I wasn't interested in today.

There are some barrels set up on the east side of the field, Star always likes to head towards them when I'm not paying attention. So we went over and started circling around the barrels at a walk. I'm wondering if she wasn't used for barrels some time in the past because she stuck to them pretty well if I put some outside leg on her. Then we did it at a trot and she was a little confused at first but then did a pretty good job at a trot too. She was still pretty distracted but she was getting the idea that there would be working happening now.

I pointed her down the path again and we trotted on our merry way. I decided I was going to sit the trot and try to keep her to a comfortable speed. She tends to see posting as licence to speed up so we'll have to tune that a bit. Anyway, she eventually noticed that when she slowed down a little I didn't bounce in the saddle. (I probably could have put more effort in and not bounced even at the pace she was going, but I was feeling lazy and self indulgent.) That was nice to trot around in the field again. There has always been some reason to not do it, the footing, my mood, my fatigue, my chickening out. In my invincibility gear it seemed like a great activity. So we trotted along for a while and when we got back to the east end of the field we did some more barrels and then we found a spot that was free of rodent holes and we did some cantering.

Star went through several phases in her thinking. First few seconds she was just a horsey doing what she was told, that was nice. Then she picked up a little speed because she was having fun. Then she did some sort of hopity bucking thing when a car came by but I pushed her back into a canter. (Gillians tip for ornery horses: if you want to buck you can't also throw your head in the air at the same time, it just doesn't work well, you have to pick one or the other.) Pushing her back into the canter was difficult and once we got going I was too distracted to breathe properly, but I got enough oxygen to function so it all worked out.

We got to a nice break point and I pulled her up so I could rest and so I could walk over and talk to Jessie. She has a horse in training with us, I think the current plan is to train her on the cart but Robert had somehow never taken Jessie out in a cart. Just the wagon, which really isnt the same, especially if you're sitting in the back. Ok, got that done, she would go for a ride with me and Reno when she was done working with Spot.

I spent a little bit of time meandering around looking for some berries I could induce Star to eat. That entertains me. Total failure there. Even when I found a nice spot Star just wanted to eat the grass.

Ok, so bored of that, I decided we should canter down the long side towards the barn. I wanted a repeat test of the whole not rushing for home phenomenon. She was really good until about 3/4 of the way down the field and I could feel that she wanted to stop and do her half rear thing but I pushed her on and she was cooperative. I pulled her up before we got to the culvert and contemplated going and cantering some more on the other side of the field.

I was really enjoying running around, and really pleased to be enjoying running around. However, I also wanted to end on a good note so that later I could continue to enjoy running around. The compromise was to take Star into the arena and practice cantering our bad direction, the left. We walked once around, trotted twice around and then picked up the canter. I think Star was getting a little tired, and it was hot out. I was feeling no pain and no sympathy so when she broke gait I tried to push her on. When she refused I cropped her. The problem with the bat is that its offensive but not all that convincing so I hit her several times with it before deciding that I would probably have better luck with my legs. I dont like whomping on a horse with my legs, its imprecise, throws my seat off, its a nasty habit, but I didn't have any better options. Anyway, that worked and we went around (all the way around, I was so pleased, we cut off no corners or pieces of the arena) a few more times before I decided this was a quit while you're ahead moment.

I looked down, having been very conscious of and somewhat successful in maintaining my upright head position, and saw sweat. Not just the little bit of sweat that makes a few of her hairs curl, real sweat, that lathered where the reins touched her neck. I was pleased. Star was somewhat less pleased. Dramatically less pleased when I hosed her off. (Oh you should have seen the mud that came off her when she got wet.)

I turned her out for a while and then when she started pacing the fenceline I brought her back over to her buddies. They look pretty cute there the three of them (Nickie, Jade, and Star) gathered as near to Jade's stall as they can get. I staggered into a chair to finish eating the lunch I had started while Star was turned out.

So I still didn't canter the entire circuit of the field, but I'm getting close. I'll need the dressage whip. Its harsher but you only have to use it once, and thats why I like it. Maybe tomorrow, who knows?