Beautiful Day!

Today was a gorgeous day for a ride: 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit).  Unbelievable for the end of November!

Not thrilled to be cooped up inside on a nice day!

When I got to the barn, Walker and all the horses were inside, which was pretty disappointing considering.  But apparently my trainer was at the barn at 5 in the morning intending to leave for the States to do some Black Friday shopping right after she was done with the chores.  Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!  We have Thanksgiving in Canada in October.

Anyway, Walker seemed pretty good to go until we got to the arena and I realized he was full of energy he would have normally gotten out of his system in the field with his friends.  It was fine though because I don't mind getting into a few fights (which we did), but then two girls showed up to ride their horses with me and things started to fall apart.

First of all, there appeared to be something in the air (or more likely, something in the woods).  I was jogging Walker fine when all of sudden, he was four feet off the ground and then bolting like a maniac (like Bruce would do) straight past the other horses.  The other horses didn't freak out at that moment, but one of them was doing a bit of mini-rearing and being a brat.  When I came in and talked to all the girls who had ridden today, apparently every single one of the horses had been bad.

artsy eye shot

Second of all, I am CONVINCED that Walker hates those two horses.  I have thought this for awhile now, which is funny because Walker generally loves all horses.  He's a social butterfly.  But any of the times that Walker has been particularly weird (excluding lessons of course), these horses have been around.  One time they were riding in the arena when I walked him by, and he went crazy and it took me 15 minutes just to walk him past them again back to the barn.  Another time, they came into the arena, and he also had a meltdown.  So while I'm sure that there may very well have been something in the woods, I'm sure the fact that his companions were these two horses didn't help the situation very much.

sweaty pony - and yep, I forgot his cooler.  At least it's a nice day!

Because I was cooling him off anyway, I ended up hopping off shortly after he had his meltdown, so on the way back to the barn, I thought that maybe this was not the best way to end the ride.  After all, I didn't want him to think that he had managed to scare me off of him, so much to his chagrin, I took him in the indoor arena and cantered him for 5 minutes straight.  He was bucking and throwing a little bit of a fuss, trying to run in to corners and the like, but I just kept him going.  If he fought with me and tried to change directions, I just made him canter in the other direction.  By the end of it, he was covered in sweat, but I'm sure he got the message: bad ponies work!

The offending edible glove - not mine, by the way

Oh, and although Walker wasn't really Bruce bad (except for his one uncharacteristic bucking bronco moment in the outdoor arena), he did almost kill himself.  He likes to get into everything, and when I was tacking him up, he grabbed a hold of a pair of rubber gloves and tried to eat them.  And when I say he tried to eat them, I mean he tried to inhale them, and by the time that I noticed he was doing it, there was just one finger of the glove sticking out of his mouth!  It was part way down his throat before I pulled it out!  That would have been a nice call to the vet!

This weekend, I get to ride Lark again, although I may end up just lunging her.  M has to work all weekend and wanted to make sure that her horse got worked.  Unfortunately, Saturdays and Sundays are a bit busy at the barn, especially when you're on a high strung horse who has a hate-on for every mare that isn't her.  We will just have to play it by ear!