It has however not been an uneventful week.. as Fred and I experienced my first 'unscheduled dismount', which I'll be honest, was sooner than I had wanted it to be!
What happened? Well Tuesday of last week Mum and I felt confidence that Fred was ready for his first solo hack without B and/or Ronnie and for Mum to come with me a short way before I peeled off and went the rest of a short loop by myself. I didn't think this would be a problem, he's done this ride a good couple of times with other horses and it's not a spooky ride so I felt excited and pretty confident.
I was walking with Fred, mounted, along a short section of road that I have to ride on to get to this ride when we had to pass a rather large van (for removals) that was parked, frustratingly, on the thinnest part of the road, with a quite vertical grass bank, before a corner. I was riding along with Mum on the bike no problems when it came time to walk past the van. Mum said to me 'Don't walk up the verge' when I quickly informed her I wasn't asked him to and that Fred was shying away from the van when he quite quickly leapt up the steep grass verge onto the side of a farmers field where he proceeded, in fright, to spin in pretty tight circles (think the western horses who spin at speed on the spot)..
While scary I was able to lean my legs forward into what I call the 'safety' position and quietly tell him woah and steady.. which he did.
As this all happened another van came round the corner and seeing this all happen, stopped and waited and no doubt watched in horror!
Mum, bless her, had dropped the bike in the road to come to my aid, but now needing to move it went back down the hill. I think this again spooked Fred and he span again, bucked and sadly I was unseated. Now we were in a farmers field that is very large and not fences in and I could not dare let go so I held onto the reins and was dragged a distance before poor Fred finally calmed down enough to stop.
Poor chap was very frightened by it all and rather than try and mount I walked him some way away from the van, back towards the yard so he could take a breath and calm down.
We made it back to the yard and after a few deep breathes I realised I had to get back on, not only to not end on a bad experience for Fred but for me and my confidence also. So we made our way back to the menage to get back on and Fred to feel safe again. Bless him, he was a good boy and after a quick lunge to get the adrenaline and urge to run out of his system I got back on. He was very good and walked around no problem and sighed and relaxed. With Mum and I happy that he was none the worse for wear and no longer frightened I got off and he was put to bed and given a nice tea as he always is.
The next day I tacked up Fred, but this time, for him and I (I was feeling sore by this point), I lead him out in hand and we had to walk passed the van. This time I better experience as I was able to walk in front of him and show him it was safe but he did walk somewhat up the verge bank again away from the van. Confirming what I had said to Mum the day before, it was a fright/flight response as opposed to being naughty or napping. The rest of that walk out went out without a hitch and since then all has been ok.
I would be lying if I said I wasn't achey and bruised so the following days I did our exercise in hand and come Friday afternoon Georgie kindly got on and schooled Fred in the menage and he was an angel! He worked beautifully for Georgie and accepted the bit and various aids with ease and showed real willingness to please.
He looks lovely I am sure you will agree?
B had a lovely splash in the water, he absolutely loves it!
Watch B have a splash in the ford!
The rest of the ride really was very fun and we all had a lovely time. It was nice to ride B again but I am looking forward to riding this week and getting back on Fred, hopefully incident free obviously!
I felt like I should write a blog post about what happened, social media nowadays is always so rose tinted where people only really share their ups and never mention the downs. Falling off last week sucked, I sprained the left wrist, which is the one I broke, but it's part of retraining a racehorse and getting to know each other. Falling off is kinda part of the course.
I am really proud of Fred, he is trying really hard and in 6 weeks has come a really long way. We're trying to even out keeping his work varied and fun without over facing him!
His personality and how he reacts to things is really starting to shine through, part of me is really sad about what happened last week because he doesn't care about running jogging by, or cyclists whizzing along by him or passed him, he's walked passed guineas fowl clucking and squawking without any care in the world so I'm saddened he got so scared by a van. I may never know what it is, but I think it was the confined space he would have to go through so it's something I am definitely conscious of now.
Also he's slowly but surely building up and gaining weight and muscle and is a shadow of the horse he was 6 weeks ago. Makes me realise how poor he was!
Taking each day and week by week and we'll decide more on plans as we go on! Nothing firm in place yet. I have a few little things in mind for him but I will not rush him and over face him, he deserves only the best.
Here's to a better week this week!
Sophie x
No comments:
Post a Comment