I think of myself as a fair weathered rider but tonight I realized that it’s not just the weather that makes me a reluctant rider in the winter. Fear induced by crazy horses is another reason for my lack of hours in the saddle.
I’m not sure how much to fault the horses. They’ve got a lot of pent-up energy because they haven’t been ridden in weeks. Add to the mix the fact that they’ve been pasture mates constantly since last fall. Zip seemed super anxious to be separated from her buddy, Scamper.
This I discovered as Zippy felt like a time bomb ready to go off at any minute. I was glad I had my helmet on and cell phone in my pocket. Fortunately neither were necessary and she didn’t ever really blow. Just a lot of jigging (slow trot when she is supposed to be walking), some head shakes, one kick out and lots of chewing on the bit.
I had hoped to try to work on some dressage type stuff like collection but just settled for lots of up and down transitions with frequent changes of direction. I also abandoned the idea of riding in the arena down by the road and rode where Zip could see Scamper most of the time. It didn’t take much for her to work up a sweat but by the time it started to get dark, she had started to settle down.
So what’s the solution, besides the indoor arena? I’m not really sure. The weather is just too fickle for me to ride more regularly. I may try to ride one horse and pony (lead) the other to see if that would help with their anxiety level. Most probably, I’ll just ride the more dependable Scamper when I want to go solo until the weather gets better.
