Fun

So, let's review, shall we?

Weather has been bitterly cold and snowy. The horse boy has been in his stall except for turn-out and the occasional romp in the outdoor arena for the past seven days. It is still cold and snowy. And now the wind is blowing.

We were the only riders in the indoor arena. And the wind is blowing the snow hard enough against the thin metal walls that I swear it sounds like a miniature machine gun. And I believe you are all aware of the fact that my horse is an Arabian, right? You've heard that Arabians are calm and hardly ever spook, right? They are docile and a 2 on a scale of 1 - 10, right?

Yeah, fun.

We actually did pretty well. I lunged him first, at a wicked fast trot until I was dizzy from spinning around in a circle. Then I attached side reins, which for some reason seemed to scream "let's canter as fast as we can" in them. So, yeah. We did that. Then I got on.

We spooked at the thin line of white running down the center of the arena, which was made of powery fine snow seeping from some place in the roof. We spooked at the jump standards on one side of the arena. We spooked at our non-existent shadow.

Through it all, I continued to ask for the walk. He would try to bolt and I would say no, and ask for the walk. After a bit, I started riding in a long figure eight and trotting on the X, but walking on the ends of the circle. The west side of the arena was especially fun, since every time we got down there the wind would give an extra little burst and snow would attack the wall, seeping through the cracks in a white haze.

I made the figure eights smaller, working from short side to short side in the arena. Ashke was very attentive and tried to bend and flex and move in a cadence while staring wide eyed at the sparkling snow dust floating down from the ceiling. Finally, Ashke stopped, planted his feet and tried to stare at the roof, which was threatening to blow off. He was as tight as a stretched wire and I could see muscles jumping beneath his skin.

I am not stupid. I got off.

All in all we rode for twenty minutes or so. Weds. lesson is going to be a joy, I can tell. Maybe we will do a lunge line lesson and canter. Maybe it will stop being so darn cold. Maybe I will win the Mega Millions Lottery. Maybe I should buy a ticket. Hummmmm.