Too tense to be undone

I was out in the field the other day, visiting my horses as they grazed, when I decided to ride Scout. I put his bridle on and climbed up, using the nearby gate as a mounting block. I'm just not limber enough to jump up and climb on anymore like I used to and I worry too much about re-injuring my knee.

I used to ride Scout around the field last summer and Nadia would follow us. Or I'd ride Nadia and Scout would follow. Anyway, once I was on Scout's back, Annie decided it was time to take off running away from us, down the field. Sometimes I think she does this as a test- "who's with me?"

Nadia and Yalla! took off after her and Scout became panicked as they disappeared out of view. He danced and wheeled and I was seriously worried about getting unseated. However, I had to wait until he stood still to safely get off... What a predicament! I decided right then and there that he was a spoiled brat and far too herdbound to be safe. Anyway, he stopped to listen for them and I dismounted quickly to the side. Then the girls came running back.

I was angry and walked Scout out of the field and back to the barn leaving the other horses behind. He was stressed and neighed and neighed while Yalla! and Annie neighed back. I decided that I couldn't leave them separated overnight, as much as I wanted to, because the neighbors wouldn't want to hear horse screams all night long, so I waited a couple of hours and brought the girls in.

The next morning, I took Annie and Yalla! out to the field and left Scout and Nadia in the barn. Even though Scout had Nadia and the neighbor horses with him he ran around and screamed endlessly for Annie and Yalla! who ran up and down the field calling back to him. I had to go to work but my daughter took Scout and Nadia out to the field a few hours later. That evening, I went out to visit some really tired horses. Of course, you'd never know it the way they came running over to me. Shame on my daughter for leaving Nadia's and Scout's halters on! She certainly knows better.

And Yalla! had obviously run through a couple of cactus plants. This is her knee. Three of her legs looked like this. Sorry for the blurry photo; she wouldn't stand still. I pulled out one of the thorns from her leg and it spurted and dripped blood. WOW! I couldn't believe how much a little cactus thorn hole bled!

I figured that I'd better get them to the barn before I pulled any more cactus thorns out so that I could dose it with some Wound Kote to cauterize it and stop the bleeding if I needed to. I walked them all in together down the little lane and through the field behind my barn. We've met dogs, campers, and dumpsters on our little walks to and from the barn. Annie walks very lightly on a lead and Scout and Nadia follow behind or off to the sides. I keep Yalla! also on a short lead but she is learning to walk more and more easily. I am always aware of where everybody is and I try to keep Scout and Nadia to the outside with Annie and Yalla! at each arm's length. Everybody walks quite calmly and the only trouble I really have is when we stop (everybody gets tangled up) to open and close gates. Also, Yalla! got rather fidgety once when one of the long lead ropes (Scout or Nadia) got under her tail by accident. And every once in a while, Annie will close in on me and step into my heel by accident, I think I have a nice little bruise forming on the back side of my ankle, because there is one place just outside of the barnyard where Annie and Yalla! don't like my parked flat trailer and sidestepped me.

I always find it interesting how calm my horses get when we walk. Arabians lead like lambs and ride like lions. Someone told me that once and I think it is true. Although, in shows, they get all hyped up. I think they like to act crazy because that is what the crowd wants. My Annie was always extremely calm and well behaved when I took her to the vet's office repeatedly for her breeding a few years ago, even though she'd never been away from the barn previously and it was all strange to her. I remember leading my Thoroughbred mare years ago and it was like a freight train when she wanted to go someplace, walking with my elbow in the shoulder and pulling back on the lead. My Paint, Dude, could yank the lead out of my hands. And yet, Annie can come running up to me at full speed with her head up and then she just drops it when the halter goes on. Shahreen, my half Arabian was just like that. Nadia ponies and leads with almost no control needed. Even Yalla! is fairly light on the lead although she needs to learn "whoa" a little better.

When I walk the four of them together, I feel like the herdmaster. I can even stop them all when I want to, along the way. Scout steals mouthfuls of grass and weeds where he can, but he is willing to pick his head up and keep the pace rather than fighting to graze. See, even he is easy to lead with the Arabian blood, although he needs more active direction, from that Appy and Paint blood.

Anyway, since the horses were tired and I was not happy about Scout's herd anxiety behavior, I decided to ride him. I saddled him up and we rode over to the pasture. I got off at the water pump and intended to take the hose across the lane to fill the water tank when he got all jittery again, not because of the hose, but because he was away from his companions. I nixed the watering plan and tried to get on him. He wouldn't stand still. The neighbor was out walking his dog down the road and as he approached us he picked up the dog. I thanked him and proceeded to turn Scout around in circles until we were both dizzy. Then, when he stood still for a second, I climbed into the stirrup and jumped up quickly. Scout settled a bit and we rode around. He neighed once, back at Yalla!'s constant calling and then seemed to finally remember his manners. For the whole rest of the ride, he kept his mouth shut. We had a really nice ride through all the neighborhood lanes as the sun set and the moon rose. He walked calmly at a nice clip (not too slow or fast) with his head down even though I could feel he was still a little tense. We even trotted and cantered a little. I enjoy riding Scout because he is always alert but he is usually well behaved, like when the turkeys suddenly gobbled as we walked past and he never even flinched. We rode long after the sun went down but the moon was so bright there were shadows on the ground. It was almost 10PM when I finally went inside for the night after settling the horses down for the night.

I am going to keep on working at his herd anxiety because he demonstrates extremely risky behavior at times. I realize that if I ever plan on going trail riding with him, I need to teach him to be a loner. I have spoiled him in recent years by ponying Nadia along with us.

In parting- here's my little whirlwind. Since she has been turned out to pasture for the last couple of weeks, I've noticed that she seems to have grown. She is shed out now and muscling up nicely. She shows lots of spirit and loves to run the long field, still doing circles and figure eights around everybody. It must be her daddy's working cow horse genes ;). She has a wonderful shine to her black/brown coat and her everchanging star on her forehead is now looking more and more like an "f' again, even though I just told my mom I thought it looked more like a feather plume and less like an "f". It's so covered up by her thick forelock it really doesn't matter, I guess. She is also going to school these days. More on that later...

Too tense to be undone - song: Get Real, artist: David Bowie