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It was going fine until the goats.
Mar. 4th, 2007 01:23 pmSo... I went riding on Minnie with J on Trumpie this morning. Footing in the woods is terrible due to deep snow, so we rode out on the road. Both horses are generally road-safe. Minnie was behaving herself, we waved to some neighbors and the overall polite people who passed us in their cars, and it was good.
Until the goats. For some reason, both horses took offense at the small herd of small goats that was fenced in on the opposite side of the street. They were clearly Evil Scary Horse-Eating goats. Trumpie was starting to get over it, but then Minnie just freaked. Whirling, backing, unhappy horse in the middle of the road is not a good thing. She even backed into a snowbank and sat in it.
But. I stayed on, without even losing a stirrup (which was easier once J reminded me to breathe.) Minnie did not gallop back to the barn, with or without me. If I were a stronger rider, I would have pushed her more to go past the goats, but I'm just not quite up to it (yet).
So we turned around and went back, and then rode the horses around the snowy field near their barn, just to remind them that even though they'd won the battle to not have to pass the Evil Scary Horse-Eating goats, they still needed to work. (The ride around the field included one episode of Minnie stopping and being very bad, wanting to just go to the barn as we rode away from it, but I turned her in a tiny circle and eventually she decided that she'd be better off following Trumpie.)
Unfortunately, somewhere along the way Minnie strained her hocks, and my oh my she can work up a sweat when she's scared! I didn't have time to groom her thoroughly after the ride, so her coat is going to be a mess. Sigh. J will give her some good medicine and she'll get a little rest, and we think she will be OK.
J and her daughter are going to take the horses out for a goat-tolerating lesson sometime soon. I suspect that they will be able to convince the horses that the Evil Scary Horse-Eating Goats are not, in fact, evil and scary, and while goats will eat almost anything, they don't think that live horses passing by on the road are tasty.
Until the goats. For some reason, both horses took offense at the small herd of small goats that was fenced in on the opposite side of the street. They were clearly Evil Scary Horse-Eating goats. Trumpie was starting to get over it, but then Minnie just freaked. Whirling, backing, unhappy horse in the middle of the road is not a good thing. She even backed into a snowbank and sat in it.
But. I stayed on, without even losing a stirrup (which was easier once J reminded me to breathe.) Minnie did not gallop back to the barn, with or without me. If I were a stronger rider, I would have pushed her more to go past the goats, but I'm just not quite up to it (yet).
So we turned around and went back, and then rode the horses around the snowy field near their barn, just to remind them that even though they'd won the battle to not have to pass the Evil Scary Horse-Eating goats, they still needed to work. (The ride around the field included one episode of Minnie stopping and being very bad, wanting to just go to the barn as we rode away from it, but I turned her in a tiny circle and eventually she decided that she'd be better off following Trumpie.)
Unfortunately, somewhere along the way Minnie strained her hocks, and my oh my she can work up a sweat when she's scared! I didn't have time to groom her thoroughly after the ride, so her coat is going to be a mess. Sigh. J will give her some good medicine and she'll get a little rest, and we think she will be OK.
J and her daughter are going to take the horses out for a goat-tolerating lesson sometime soon. I suspect that they will be able to convince the horses that the Evil Scary Horse-Eating Goats are not, in fact, evil and scary, and while goats will eat almost anything, they don't think that live horses passing by on the road are tasty.
