# The Road Ahead



## Cacowgirl (Feb 19, 2011)

That is a lot to carry on your young shoulders-I will send healing thoughts your way & hope your recovery time is shorter than predicted. Stay strong-there will be more hurdles ahead.


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## JulieG (Jun 25, 2013)

Ouch! Sorry to hear that. I hope you're feeling better soon, even if it will be a while before you can ride.

My BO drives her horses and absolutely loves it. I definitely think you should look into it.


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

Thank you for the thoughts! I've always loved driving but have never had a driving horse so I guess soon I will! 

Funny short story for the day: 
When we first moved out to the place where we are now my boss had not finished putting up all of her fencing. There were only our two horses, some of hers, and another boarders and she sectioned off two fields by very easily breaking wire (so if any horse were to go through there would be no resistance) to make this visible she tied multicolored ribbons to the wire that would wave and show the horses the boundaries. Her and her husband had just finished putting up the last of this wire after their long hard day of work on the farm and noticed my mare standing by the far side gate, looking towards the barn. 

My trainer apparently had been bringing her in at night because of the colder weather and rain which was making my mare need a blanket. In the barn my mare had a heated bucket, more than enough food and hey, she didn't have to deal with any of the horses out in the field! Her and her husband stopped and stared at my mare and he asked if she wanted to bring her in. As the weather was pleasant for a change and she hates to have horses in unnecessarily my boss said, "No, she'll be fine!" As they walked away she head my mare neigh and shouted back: "You can stay outside! You're a horse! It's good for you!" and without further ado walked into the barn with her husband, preparing to go out to dinner to celebrate their hard work. 

They heard the sound of hooves galloping and walked out, watching from a distance as my mare ran to the back of the biggest field. Laughing and chuckling at watching her quarter horse tank of a body (she is traditional bulldog, pure muscle body) move they were struck silent as they watched her run towards the fence, her gallop putting a kentucky derby winner to shame. My boss swears up and down that she looked at the fence, doubled her speed and plowed right through all their brand new fencing, ripping down every inch of wire and then slid to a stop in the field beside the barn. As they both stared dumbfounded my mare snorted, found the gate closed, and then took off again, cantering in a circle until she charged the gate and jumped it, clearing it and landing in the unfenced area behind the barn. With a snarl on her face the horse walked up to the BO and her husband, stood there while they both were staring at her and then as they moved aside went inside the barn and found an open stall, going inside and waiting. 

This was the first time that she plowed through their fencing.


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## Oliveren15 (Apr 28, 2013)

Oh goodness! Here's hoping your knee and other assorted injuries have a speedy recovery! And about the fencing and your mare, wow! You have a very interesting mare lol.


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

Surgery today so I'll know the severity SOON!! 

So I thought I might as well post another story about my mare just because she is very interesting and now that I'm injured I get to reflect on just HOW eccentric she is: 

So I went out to the barn today, found my mare put into a stall by the BO and spent some time just loving on her and feeding her treats. And then went over to spend some time with the frisian that's been dubbed her "boyfriend" (she loves him to death since she lost her old "boyfriend" last year due to his old age). My BO came out and started to chitchat with me. 

Ever since my mare ran through the fence the first time (she did this about 6 more times until my BO got the memo and just brought her in whenever she wanted) my trainer knows when she wants in, let her in! Now my trainer has a fractured knee that never healed right so it's very hard for her to go to the back field where my mare is and bring her up when she has a limited window of pain freeness to work horses. During the winter my BO would go out back to feed and open the fencing for my mare to come out and walk around with her, then follow her back to the barn and put her in a stall. (There's an open passage way that connects the barn and all fields together.) Soon my mare discovered that she could just walk up to the barn and go into an empty stall or wait for the BO in the aisle way to get outta the weather. 

(My mare did not develop any bad habits from this, btw, just to put any minds at ease, nor did she ever stray from her straight line to the barn  ) My trainer has another girl that comes out besides me who is very new to horses, she was bringing up the friesian and my BO peaked out at her to just see her trying in vain to shoo my mare away. With the girl exasperated and trying to get through the wire to cut across an empty field and recognizing that fiendish look, my trainer just called out "Let her come through!" the girl hesitated a moment and then moved out of the way as my mare came through and stopped by the closed gate, a snarl on her face and her mind definitely set to come INTO the barn (despite the beautiful day). As the girl brought up the horse she tried again to shoo my mare away until my trainer just laughed and said, "Open the gate and let her through first." Again the girl hesitantly did so and my mare went trotting into the barn and walked into an empty stall. The BO waited and then began to throw hay to the horses that were inside as the girl brought the friesian in, put him away in his stall and shut the door, turned around and was shocked to see my mare standing in the stall with the door wide open despite hay being thrown and the hay cart right next to the door. She walked over, peaked in and then looked back at my trainer who shrugged and said, "You can shut the door." The girl shut the door and watched as my mare went to a corner and waited for her hay, then proceeded to eat it. 

For the rest of the day the girl was so excited and kept proclaiming to everyone who walked through the door that that horse was one that could, "Put itself away!" Later on when the NH boarder who is an extremist and a control freak was talking to her became aghast when the girl told her that she had seen the most natural horsemanship preformed: A horse putting itself in it's stall with no training; aka a horse that had trained a trainer. 

I just about died laughing.


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

I've been revisiting memories of riding, and came to a startling conclusion about our gelding. To anyone who was wondering he was abused and rescued by a woman then us (though I consider us a rescue because the alternative was too harsh for him) so any of his issues are understandable and honestly, the trainers who have worked with him have told us to suck it up and adapt. 

He's in no means perfect. In fact he's a bona fide nut job. Spooks at everything, bolts without stopping, injured both me and my mom and is a lazy horse who I sometimes doubt has more than two brain cells in his head. Add to that pigeon toed and crooked legged, and crosses his front feet when he walks.

But occasionally I'm reminded of the greatness he's capable of. 

After his retraining when he injured my mom he sat in a back field until I decided on a fluke one day that I was going to ride him again and get him back into his once beloved discipline of dressage. I did so and rode him consistently and worked with him as much as possible. I never intended/wanted him to be my horse, he was my moms. In a way (corny and fake as it may sound) when I was a kid he was my black stallion. He was the untouchable horse who I occasionally got to sit on bareback when my mom lead us around but otherwise left alone. But I had no desire of ever calling that horse 'mine' eventually despite people's opinions that he was in fact 'mine'. 

But in reflection I never rode a horse more willing and hard working then him. He gave it his all, every time he was worked. By month one of our dressage training he was trotting sidepasses, halfpasses, something of that sort I've yet to learn my terminology.... and never once complained. I'll be the first to admit I made many mistakes on him, I had many whoops moments but not once did that horse hold it against me. 

When you bridle him you just open the headstall for his humongous head to clammor through and he launches his mouth at the bit and holds it in his mouth till you catch up. He does the same for his halter, he greets you in the field and never offers a harsh gesture towards you. In retrospect he's a **** fine horse. 

When I was out visiting the other day I happened to run into the monstrosity on accident and had to admit I bawled my eyes out. I've not been in contact with him and had no desire to desensitize him to my crutches when I can't walk. But that lug came right up, and put his head near my chest, and waited for his attention. No spook no 'it's going to kill me' just peace. 

I think it was that moment when I finally realized that he'd become my horse. 

I remembered the times when I'd rode him, worked with him and how every time he's always put his head near my chest and begs for his attention. I thought about the time (on a fluke and a dare and a stupid notion) I put a tarp on the ground and led him over it, and tried to get him to spook to turn it into a learning experience. And I was reminded about how some things you can't control and sometimes it's the ones you least expect. And I hate to admit it but I bawled. He wasn't my horse, he was supposed to be my moms. Out of all the people he had to go and chose the wrong one. 

I've thought a lot of my grandma who used to run barrels on her horse. He was Red, a huge QH who was particular of the people he liked. She in fact said that she hated him from the moment they met, she couldn't stand him and only rode him because he was the only horse around that met her needs. She said one night he broke his leg badly, the vet came out and offered to put him to sleep but for some reason she couldn't do it. She said that he looked at her and it was as if then she fell in love. So she called out her dad and told him to invent her something (him and her mom loved to invent stuff lol). He spent one day rigging up a sling that would hang from a support beam and a brace to heal the leg back to as normal a position as possible and then put it on a pully system so it was moveable up and down and left to right. According to her it went the length of the barn and outside about ten feet. Red sat in that sling for months and when he finally did get out of it he was standing on her front porch in the early morning. As per her own tradition she sat out in the yard with her cup of coffee and watched the sunrise, and soon enough Red his head on her lap and went to sleep. That became their tradition for the next 20 years. She told me that story and then said, "You have no control over who it likes." 

For some reason now when I ride or look at him now I don't see the 'big stupid dumb horse' but I see the courageous one. I see the horse that might be afraid but gives 110% in everything he does for you. I know now that each of those rides no matter how trivial or frustrating was something that I've yet to feel on another horse to the extremity that he gave me. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is: sometimes it's the horses that you can't ever see yourself teaming up with that turn out to be the ones which are the best to ride. 

Kudos if you took the time to read that, if not, kudos as well!  It's off of my chest and brain and into the open air for better or worse.


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