When Good Horses Go Bad

I rode Monday night after having five days off (freaking December is killing my riding mojo) and although Ashke and I got grumbly at each other (he will stop spooking at the far end of the arena or we will both be grumbly for every ride until it happens) but the ride ended on a good note. Although, I was once again thrown into the "why would I ever want to show again if I can't get my horse to ride past that end of the arena without reacting". He's not even looking at stuff when I hand walk him, nor is he when we are walking or trotting past the obstacles and jump standards. It's when we start cantering that the attitude comes out. He did get smacked on the neck for being an idiot and balking, but then I rode him in a circle back to the spot where he stopped his canter and made him pick it up again. We did canter half circles at that end of the arena until he would do them (because he can do it - that's not the issue) with proper bend, proper cadence and no giraffing. But it left a bad taste in both our mouths.

I do have to say that the arguments we are having now are much less intense, difficult or reactive in comparison to a year ago. A year ago, I would have ended the ride in tears and Ashke would have been tense and distrustful. Monday, it was just grumbly, not an all out fight. And after the open slap on his neck and me telling him to knock it off, he was much better.

Tuesday, we were both warm and affectionate with each other. Kind of like a married couple after bickering about socks. I hand walked him around the arena, passing all of the jump stuff in both directions, and his only reaction was to try and tip the barrel over and eat the plastic flowers out of the jump boxes. We did walk-trot-canter in various combinations and although he did react a bit to the jump standards, a twitch on the rein brought his attention back to me.

One of the other riders at the barn came in while we were riding. Her horse, a QH build like a brick shit house, has been laid up for almost 18 months. He tangled with an electrical fence tape about the same time Ashke degloved his left hind leg. D has been through two surgeries on the injury and his owner, G, is just now getting him back into work. Since I was there and riding, G decided to hop on D and walk a bit around the arena. She had ridden him a week or so prior, and he had been fine, although he gave his trainer a bit of a handful when she was up on him. G thought that all of that had been resolved in the subsequent rides.

She saddled him and stood him by the mounting block for a bit, making him stand still til she was ready to get on. Ashke and I were working the double slalom pattern, although I was changing it up by making him do circles all the way around each pole before doing a transition through the halt to change leads. He was listening well and I really wasn't paying attention to anything other than my communication with him.

G swung up on D and the next thing I know D is bolting across the arena and G is hauling back on her reins trying to get him to stop. Ashke and I halt in place and I add my voice to G's, yelling "D whoa!!!" I could see that G was in trouble. D wasn't listening to her at all, he was in a simple snaffle that gave her no leverage and had a running martingale on. G was trying to do a one rein stop, but the martingale wasn't allowing her to pull his head around to disengage his hind quarters. It also prevented her from pulling his head up, since it was holding his head down. The second turn around the indoor and they almost hit the wall of the arena, and when D circled toward Ashke and I, I really thought he was going to crash into us. The scenes from those driving classes where the horse and cart go careening around the arena crashing other horse and carts flashed through my head, but D dodged at the last moment and missed us.

Ashke didn't move. We were both of the opinion that less movement would not contribute any more energy to the explosiveness that was happening.

On his third circuit, D started adding crowhopping to his resume, and at that point the writing was on the wall. I didn't think it would end well and I think G came to the same decision. Additionally, the saddle was slipping to the outside. G looked for a soft place to land and dropped off  the outside. D managed to get free without stepping on her. G rolled over in the sand and began to crawl out of the arena. She was moving and conscious.

I swung off and grabbed D before he could continue to rampage. He was pretty wild and it took a moment to get him. By that time, G was up and had found her glasses (I do not miss wearing glasses for just that reason) and confirmed verbally that although her back hurt, she was moving and not broken and didn't need an ambulance.

I took Ashke over and put him at the tie rack in his halter, then took a lunge line and D back to the middle of the arena. I removed the martingale, tied his reins around the horn to keep them out of our way, straightened out the saddle and tightened the girth, then ran the lunge line through his bit and up over his head to the other side. Then I asked him to move in a circle. G warned me that he didn't lunge well, but once I got him going in a circle he continued on his own. I just asked him to move until he stopped trying to bolt, his head came down a bit and he was licking and chewing. Then we reversed direction and did it the other way. He choose to travel in a rapid trot for almost 30 minutes before I stopped him because he was short striding on his left hind.

He was pretty sweaty. G walked him for a bit to let him cool and dry. I had thought to have her get back on him, but it was pretty obvious when we went to attempt that, that he was going to explode again. G put him away and we gave him 1g of bute, since he had just done a bunch more exercise than he had in the past 18 months. G agreed to get help from her trainer before trying to ride him again in the form of lunging, ground work and maybe a lead line lesson. And she agreed to wear her helmet next time.

Ashke watched everything calmly from his spot on the hitch rail. He really is such a great horse.

I don't know if it was saddle fit or just flat out bad attitude on the part of D when G swung up, but that was one of the most terrifying things I've witnessed. I feel very thankful that G wasn't hurt (sore muscles the next day seems to be the extent) and that D was fine the next morning. I expect that with some specific training and exercise, he will go back to the horse she had the last time she was able to ride.