Two years ago today, I rode Mac for the last time ever. Two years ago today, I was trotting stirrupless around the arena when I felt his knees buckle. Two years ago today, we were making jokes about Mac's clumsiness and my latest fall. Two years ago today... I remember it like it happened yesterday.
I don't think I rode on June 20th, 2008. The memory was even more painful back then, just a year after. I did ride today, however. It felt a little strange and I thought about it a few times, but it didn't involve the terrible discomfort that I thought it might.
I feel really sad now, but that's because I'm thinking about it. I remember the feeling of his knees buckling, knowing instantly that he was going down. He fell straight on his knees. When he stopped moving, I was still sitting perfectly astride as if nothing had happened. I was too shocked to move. Mac decided that he had to get up whether I was going to get off or not, and I fell off to the side when he was about halfway up. I scraped my hand on the wire fencing and my right leg started swelling from banging it up against something. I was so scared for him. Jean came out of the house and asked me what happened. I had already told Larry that Mac had been stumbling a lot. We finally proved that something was really wrong. I got back on after checking Mac's legs and comforting the poor boy. I didn't know that it would be our last ride.
I guess I'll talk about Stella now. I'm thinking about writing a nice memorial thing for Mac and posting it on July 15, so I guess I'll save all of my fun stories for then.
Stella and I have been on a roll for the past few rides. She's been absolutely wonderful for me. I've taught her to do a free walk, and she lowers her head whenever I ride on the buckle. She's been relaxed in all of her gaits, rounding up, and basically being the fantastic horse that I know she is. We've been working on our circles, and I've been working on not leaning into my turns at the canter. Because I'm correcting that, she's not leaning into our turns at the canter. It's amazing how much a rider influences her horse's performance.
I'm excited about the Quarter Horse show in two weeks. Hopefully Stella will continue to behave herself there just as she's doing at home. If she behaves this way at the show, I'll love her forever. Ah, I love her forever no matter what :) I'm so lucky to have someone like her.
EDIT:
I should add that Stella gave her first pony ride on Tuesday. Shelby came to the barn for a lesson, and we started her out on Tina. She got a little scared when Tina broke into a fast trot, but we comforted her and she was okay after that. She kept saying that she "almost fell down." I was scared that she was going to fall off too... I would've felt responsible for it. I know, I know :P Then, we put her on Sissy for a second ride. She had fun with Sissy, especially when Larry asked Sissy for a showmanship-style pivot while Shelby was riding. Shelby giggled the whole way through, and the sound of her laughter made me all happy inside. I do love seeing little kids learning to ride. Then, Shelby said she wanted to ride Stella. I figured she'd be okay as long as I longed Stella, Shelby didn't attempt to use her legs, and I held onto Stella at all times. I tacked Stella up in my English saddle (The kid had never been in one and wanted to know where she could hang onto. I told her that the pommel would make a decent handhold.), longed her, and gave her a stern lecture on how she was to behave with a small child on her back. Stella isn't a malicious horse by any means, but she is much less predictable than your average horse. I told her that she was to do everything in her power to keep the child on her back and that she would make me very proud if she could give Shelby a safe, fun ride. I feel that she understood the gravity of her job, because she didn't so much as snort as long as Shelby was sitting astride her back. As I was tacking up Stella, Larry half-jokingly told me not to "ruin a good thing." That made me very nervous, but I really think Larry had about as much faith in Stella as I did or he wouldn't have given the okay to put a kid on her back. I did have to tell Shelby not to run up to Stella and not to move her legs at all once she was mounted. Stella works off of very light leg aids, and I feared both for Shelby's safety and Stella's comfort if I allowed the child to attempt to cue Stella herself.
She really is amazing :) She's just not lesson horse material right now, and I'm not sure she'll ever be the kind of horse you can just put kids on.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Everything in one go.
I know I'm slacking off, don't remind me.
I've been doing lots of working and riding and other fun stuff at the barn lately. The big summer AQHA show that we always go to is coming up soon, and I'm very excited. I'm hoping that Stella will behave herself as well as she did last year, but I'm also preparing myself for whatever she decides to do while we're there. Agh, unpredictable horses...
The kids came for a lesson yesterday, so I tacked up Tina for little Shelby and led her around. She told me to let her ride by herself, so I did. I just stayed nearby in case she had trouble getting Tina to steer or go. Tina really requires a lot of leg, and poor little Shelby doesn't quite have the length or strength to keep her going. She's still having trouble with the idea of using the left leg to turn right and vice versa, but I think she'll get it in time. She's really young, but she really likes it. She saw my English saddle in the tack room and asked me about it. I told her that they're for jumping when she asked if they're the kind that "you don't hang onto." I tell her to hang on tight to the reins and horn when I let her jog a little. When she gets longer legs and a more secure seat, we can work on weaning her off of the horn.
I felt so good when I was helping Shelby mount up. I couldn't lift her onto the horse, so I asked Larry to come over and give me a hand. Shelby looked a little worried and had to check to make sure I was going to lead her around even though Larry was the one who had to lift her onto Tina's back.
I also saw her, her mother, and her brother in the grocery store last Sunday. I was looking around for the least expensive carton of orange juice when a small child came running out of nowhere and latched onto me. Shelby spotted me and had to run over for a hug. It's kids like her who make me think twice about not really wanting children of my own :)
I rode Stella yesterday. She was pretty good, particularly toward the end of the ride. She's been really energetic lately. I blame the high-energy feed that Larry insists she eat so she'll be less "ribby," but I do agree that she really needed to gain some weight. She's just a hard keeper. Stella wanted to do her best impression of a giraffe at the beginning of the ride because she saw the other horses playing in the pasture. I worked the silliness out of her, though, and she relaxed enough to give me a lovely trot and canter. I mostly sat the trot yesterday. I don't know why. I wasn't hurting. I just felt like sitting, I guess. Stella got a nice rinse at the end of the ride. We were both covered in sweat and we both thoroughly enjoyed the cool water.
Stella got a break today. Larry asked me if I'd school Chester, and I told him that I would. He even said that I could use my own saddle instead of riding in his new western saddle. I miss his old one and I'm rather unhappy about the fact that he's loaned it out to someone :( I tacked up Larry's beastly stallion with my "wussy" English saddle and lavender saddle pad (which looks really good on Stella AND Chester), and we went out for a ride.
I mounted up and immediately started thinking about Mac. Chester is Mac's half-brother, out of the same mare, and I swear that Chester looks, moves, and acts a whole lot like Mac did. The thoughts weren't actually bad, but I was still uncomfortable at first. I miss Mac so much. Believe it or not, in eight days it'll have been two years since our last ride together. That means that it's been almost two years since he was euthanized. At this point I feel that I'm as healed as I can be after the traumatic experience of watching one of my best friends die in such an untimely, undignified manner. It still hurts a little, though.
We had a good ride together once I focused on the here and now. Chester really, really drives from his hindquarters. His power is absolutely amazing. He's just like Mac. His trot was lovely to post and to sit, and I spent time doing both. We even cantered tonight. I haven't really been able to canter him that much before tonight because he wouldn't readily pick it up. I hate to say that because it makes me sound like I can't ride anything but a pushbutton school horse, but each time I would try to drive him into the canter I'd have to get off and sit down because the pain was so bad. Even though I'm fairly well-muscled, something (Diagnosis, anyone? Please? It's only been six years...) prevents me from really driving. It was wonderful to finally canter him. He was powerful at the trot, but his canter was EPIC. I've never been on a horse who canters so powerfully. Mac wasn't even like this. I love riding Chester, even though it makes me miss my good sir.
Larry even said that I looked good riding Chester tonight. I didn't feel like I deserved that compliment, but it sure made me all happy on the inside :)
I'm excited for the Quarter Horse show.
I've been doing lots of working and riding and other fun stuff at the barn lately. The big summer AQHA show that we always go to is coming up soon, and I'm very excited. I'm hoping that Stella will behave herself as well as she did last year, but I'm also preparing myself for whatever she decides to do while we're there. Agh, unpredictable horses...
The kids came for a lesson yesterday, so I tacked up Tina for little Shelby and led her around. She told me to let her ride by herself, so I did. I just stayed nearby in case she had trouble getting Tina to steer or go. Tina really requires a lot of leg, and poor little Shelby doesn't quite have the length or strength to keep her going. She's still having trouble with the idea of using the left leg to turn right and vice versa, but I think she'll get it in time. She's really young, but she really likes it. She saw my English saddle in the tack room and asked me about it. I told her that they're for jumping when she asked if they're the kind that "you don't hang onto." I tell her to hang on tight to the reins and horn when I let her jog a little. When she gets longer legs and a more secure seat, we can work on weaning her off of the horn.
I felt so good when I was helping Shelby mount up. I couldn't lift her onto the horse, so I asked Larry to come over and give me a hand. Shelby looked a little worried and had to check to make sure I was going to lead her around even though Larry was the one who had to lift her onto Tina's back.
I also saw her, her mother, and her brother in the grocery store last Sunday. I was looking around for the least expensive carton of orange juice when a small child came running out of nowhere and latched onto me. Shelby spotted me and had to run over for a hug. It's kids like her who make me think twice about not really wanting children of my own :)
I rode Stella yesterday. She was pretty good, particularly toward the end of the ride. She's been really energetic lately. I blame the high-energy feed that Larry insists she eat so she'll be less "ribby," but I do agree that she really needed to gain some weight. She's just a hard keeper. Stella wanted to do her best impression of a giraffe at the beginning of the ride because she saw the other horses playing in the pasture. I worked the silliness out of her, though, and she relaxed enough to give me a lovely trot and canter. I mostly sat the trot yesterday. I don't know why. I wasn't hurting. I just felt like sitting, I guess. Stella got a nice rinse at the end of the ride. We were both covered in sweat and we both thoroughly enjoyed the cool water.
Stella got a break today. Larry asked me if I'd school Chester, and I told him that I would. He even said that I could use my own saddle instead of riding in his new western saddle. I miss his old one and I'm rather unhappy about the fact that he's loaned it out to someone :( I tacked up Larry's beastly stallion with my "wussy" English saddle and lavender saddle pad (which looks really good on Stella AND Chester), and we went out for a ride.
I mounted up and immediately started thinking about Mac. Chester is Mac's half-brother, out of the same mare, and I swear that Chester looks, moves, and acts a whole lot like Mac did. The thoughts weren't actually bad, but I was still uncomfortable at first. I miss Mac so much. Believe it or not, in eight days it'll have been two years since our last ride together. That means that it's been almost two years since he was euthanized. At this point I feel that I'm as healed as I can be after the traumatic experience of watching one of my best friends die in such an untimely, undignified manner. It still hurts a little, though.
We had a good ride together once I focused on the here and now. Chester really, really drives from his hindquarters. His power is absolutely amazing. He's just like Mac. His trot was lovely to post and to sit, and I spent time doing both. We even cantered tonight. I haven't really been able to canter him that much before tonight because he wouldn't readily pick it up. I hate to say that because it makes me sound like I can't ride anything but a pushbutton school horse, but each time I would try to drive him into the canter I'd have to get off and sit down because the pain was so bad. Even though I'm fairly well-muscled, something (Diagnosis, anyone? Please? It's only been six years...) prevents me from really driving. It was wonderful to finally canter him. He was powerful at the trot, but his canter was EPIC. I've never been on a horse who canters so powerfully. Mac wasn't even like this. I love riding Chester, even though it makes me miss my good sir.
Larry even said that I looked good riding Chester tonight. I didn't feel like I deserved that compliment, but it sure made me all happy on the inside :)
I'm excited for the Quarter Horse show.
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