Continue to Continue

It’s time, as they say, to get back on the horse – in this case literally. There are affairs to settle, a house to clean, laundry to do and flowers to plant so let’s go riding. Spice is lame – she broke a chunk out of her hoof, my husband has claimed Doc and they’re still bonding so if I want to ride it has to be Whisper. It’s certainly time. It has been more than a month since his first ride and I can count on one hand the number of times he’s been ridden since. And no one except Tall has ridden him off of a lead line. Time to just get on the horse and ride him.

Whisper has become a different horse in the past several weeks. He has become more personable and less fearful. Instead of me taking him his carrots he is the first one to approach asking for them. I can walk up to him and throw my arms around his neck and he no longer flinches or tries to turn to the side. I can walk around him without him trying to keep his eye on me all the time. His wary, suspicious look is gone. All this has happened since Tall rode him. It’s like he’s figured out the end game and it’s not so bad – if fact he kind of likes it. That’s not to say he doesn’t still sometimes lead me on a merry chase around the pasture but I get the distinct impression he’s laughing at me rather than trying to run away. Yesterday after I worked him I returned him to his pasture and went to put the halter on my mare. She was having none of it and took off up the hill with Whisper right beside her. He knew I wasn’t trying to catch him so he blocked for Spice. I could walk up to him and scratch his nose but when I tried to move around him he’d block me just long enough for Spice to get away. I did finally catch up to her and his whinny as we left the pasture sounded an awful lot like a chuckle.

So, I grabbed my husband (security blanket), tacked up the big boy, and put him through some paces in the round pen. Then I got on him and rode 1.87 miles in a circle at a walk (my husband had attached a gps to the saddle horn). We started and stopped and started. We changed direction. We were surprised by a car roaring into the driveway – I told him the owner is an idiot and he agreed and moved on. We worked on one rein stops then on ‘whoa.’ He was a gentleman the entire time.

One thing kind of surprised me. I had my husband stand in the middle of the round pen in case Whisper decided to take off. Stepping in front of his drive line would cause Whisper to slow and turn. He is also used to having someone in that position and I thought he might be less nervous. That turned out not to be necessary but when I told him (husband) to leave the round pen Whisper started to follow him. Even though he (husband) had been standing perfectly still Whisper was paying at least as much attention to him as me. I noticed that once my husband was out of the picture Whisper was more distracted by events happening outside of the round pen. Of course the endurance horse being trained to lope past someone handing it’s rider a water bottle distracted me also. All that aside it was an excellent session. There are things to work on – standing still beside the mounting block is paramount. We won’t be leaving the round pen until we have walk/trot transitions down and then it will be to the arena for a bit. I hope to have him on the trails in a couple of weeks. I think with Callie’s help that’s doable. We’ve made an excellent start.

We Had a Merry Ride

This entry will be only peripherally about Whisper. Possibly it’s been noticed that the entries have become fewer in the last couple of months. I’ve alluded to the cause in an earlier entry but the time has come to tell why.

When I was a child all I wanted was a horse. We lived in the city and (as I found out only recently) my parents seriously considered buying me one but just couldn’t afford it. As I got older other things took the place of that desire but I’ve always had a soft spot for horses and loved being around them. My mother took a hiking trip to Peru about 10 years ago. She was mid sixtyish at the time and said later it was the hardest thing she had ever done. But, there were three horses available to ride and she took advantage of that whenever no one really needed to ride. She came home and began taking riding lessons and – you can see where this is going - she bought Doc, a 7 year old paint gelding. And she had great fun with him. They went here and there and rode trails and forded streams and loped up hills and spooked at benches and hay bales. He would do something stupid, she would get dumped, and he would look at her as if to say “What are you doing down there? You belong on my back.” They were a team; a bonded pair.

When we knew I was moving out here she began to tell me about this mare that was boarded at the same stable as Doc. Her owner had died and she was for sale. Mom was afraid she would be sold to someone who didn’t appreciate her. She had personality and got along well with Doc and was not dull and boring. And best of all – she wasn't mare-ish. You can see where this is going – I bought Spice,  an opinionated, stubborn, redheaded mare - and if that's not mare-ish I don't know what is.

I moved out here two years ago and we spent a lot of time riding in the hills and on the rimrock. We didn’t need to tell the horses where to go. My mother would ‘yip-yip’ to Doc and we would take off at a lope up the hill. This actually became somewhat of a problem. When Spice hears that trademark cue she’s off. I just had to be ready for it. We went on the trail ride from hell which left Spice lame but she learned to go through water. We trained for an endurance ride which actually improved Spice’s disposition somewhat.

Mom thought fostering Whisper was a great idea. Spice has navicular syndrome and is an accident waiting to happen. She comes up lame periodically. Whisper would give me a horse to play with if Spice was incapacitated. From the time I brought him home Mom helped with him. She took him for walks and rubbed him and helped get him used to other people. She was there with him when he had surgery and walked his groggy butt to a stall afterward. She thought he was a great horse and deserving of this chance.

In April Mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It didn’t change the way she did things. She and Doc still loped up that hill. She helped me with Whisper. She rode him before I did because I was afraid another chance wouldn’t come. And it didn’t. We did the Sheriff’s Posse poker ride at Skull Hollow on May 22. We won prizes and it was a great day. She died June 1st. And I hope she knows that when the time comes for Doc to join her I will be there to point him up the hill.

Phototography courtesy of Claudia J. Howell Photography http://www.claudiajhowell.com/