The tack shop is on a very busy road, though I don't have to ride down the busy road to get to it - the cross-street is our slow, country lane. I've been thinking for a month or two that I need to start seriously working Ruby out and about on our own. Heather is a great friend and I really enjoy riding with her but she has no endurance aspirations - after we start adding speed and distance, most of Ruby's rides are going to have to be solo. With that in mind, I had to stop at the tack shop so thought, why not start today? I left her halter on under the bridle, tied the lead rope around her neck and walked her out. The plan was to walk past the crazy mares on the corner and the crazy geldings down the road a bit, then if she was calm, I'd mount up and ride down to the tack shop.
She was looky and worried about leaving the barnyard, and it wasn't long before she starting trying to lead me - not happening. She had this same bad habit when I first brought her home, so I corrected it the same way. When she walked ahead and wasn't paying attention, I stopped and made her circle around me. This would have been much easier with a crop but I honestly didn't expect any problems today *sigh*. She started getting lazy about moving her hindquarters so I began pushing into her with my fingertips. Instead of moving out, she flinched her muscles then decided to kick out. She intentionally did not kick me - she missed me by so much that I didn't feel the wind even though she kicked with enough force to easily break my leg and send me flying. Amusingly, I saw her almost stop herself and then decide, what the hell, why not? She's never done anything like this before, crazy mare! Anyway, I started yelling and getting crazy, and backing her up. When she lowered her head we continued on our walk. Amazingly, I had no more respect issues.
Several vehicles passed us while we were out and all but one were extremely polite as they went by, hallelujah. She started to get nervous again when we walked into the parking lot of the shop - understandable because the speed limit is such that the vehicles make a loud 'whoosh' sound as they go by. I tied her, stood with her until she was settled, then walked to the door. I was checking to see if they'd gotten something in, so didn't have to go into the store itself and we left a few minutes later. She started getting nervous again when leaving - there was a large box making a strange noise (an A/C unit) and a dog barking. She was much better heading back home and I thought about mounting up but decided not to push my luck any further today. We're going to have to do things like this more often.
In other news, I found a new (to me) endurance website with a conditioning plan. I really like that this one places so much emphasis on slowly building a solid foundation: Perseverance Endurance I think we'll start this conditioning plan once I can get her riding solo consistently. Depending on Ruby's fitness level, we will probably only do 4-6 weeks walking even though she is barefoot. We will do the full three months for the trotting stage though. That means that starting LDs this year is unlikely, especially if there are any breaks in training, say for hurricanes or other nonsense. There are plenty of other things to do - I may take her to the next distance riding clinic and the fun ride is still a go.
Unfortunately (or excellent training opportunity, depending on your view), it looks like I might be riding alone at the poker ride this weekend. That is, if I can scrounge up the nerve to haul for 2-3 hours by myself.
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| Nope, she's not that white - she's just that shiny. |
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