Burn

On Saturday, I decided to drive up to my old barn and watch a horse show there.  It turned out to be a great day, even though it was blistering hot.  I stupidly forgot to put sunscreen on so now I have a very painful sunburn on my otherwise Casper-white skin.  :(

It was really great to see all my old barn friends though, and they seemed to be pretty happy that I came.  When I arrived, I was walking down the hill towards the barn, and I heard, "It's Natalie!"  A bunch of people turned around and starting waving.  When I got to the barn, my trainer's husband was there, and he said, "You'd think a celebrity arrived!"  It's always nice to feel special!

I helped out a bit with some quick tack changes, talked to my old barn owner, trainer, and instructor, and I even went out to supper with all of them afterwards.  They told me all the gossip since I was gone, and as usual, horse gossip is always the best!  Apparently my old B.O. got a bunch of new horses in.  She had one of the older kids ride one of the ponies for a couple weeks to test drive him, and all was well.  On Friday night, a little girl about 7-8 years old came out to try him.  I guess he bolted with her on him, stopped at the fence, changed his mind, rocked back on his haunches and leapt the five foot arena fence from a standstill.  He clipped the fence on the way over, tore the whole thing down, landed on his knees, and sent the girl flying, who apparently managed to hold on all the way until he landed on his knees.  That's one tough little kid!  Needless to say, that's one pony on his way back to wherever the hell he came from.

Today, I went out to see my own boy and met up with my new B.O.  He asked me if I was going to ride, and when I said yes, he said that I should definitely lunge Walker first since he's been on stall rest for so long and all that jazz.  When I said to him that I always do and that I had in fact been riding him for a week or two now, he said, "Yeah.  I know.  That's what worries me."

Umm.  What?  He has never seen Walker worked or me on a horse.  The impression I got from the conversation was that he had either been talking to someone who gave him the impression that I was incompetent (or else my horse was a maniac) or that he decided to pre-judge me before getting to know me.

But, don't worry, he said to me, if I decided to ride, there was a 16 year old girl at the barn who could help me if I needed her.

I wonder if she could hold my hand too?  Lord knows I love to be babysat.

While I understand the heart of his concern (i.e. riding a horse who had been on stall rest), I simply didn't appreciate the lack of faith.  Nobody knows that little jerk like I do, and in fact I opted not to ride in the end.  A combination of the extreme heat, his sassy attitude on the lunge line, and simply not wanting to stick around the barn after all that.

So I'm feeling the burn - both of them.