I finally rode my horse again this Sunday, but maybe I could have chosen a better day than Halloween to break our dry spell. We putzed and futzed all day, and finally hauled to the trail head in the mid afternoon and took our time tacking up. It was my second time hauling with my new to me truck and a friend's borrowed trailer, Tarma and I are so much happier! (Have I mentioned how much I want my Double D????)

I had exchanged gullet sizes to a narrower tree on my Wintec saddle and had some other tack adjustments to do, and Tarma seemed chill enough munching hay with a friend's mare. When we finally mounted and tried to get going, the wheels came off a bit. Tarma was tossing her head and being really light in front and not wanting to move out, so I hopped off and adjusted her saddle again. I remounted and this time she figured she needed to express her opinion and energy levels even louder, so she full on reared, twice!

Every time she does something like this I wonder and obsess and second guess myself, but I had a feeling that today wasn't because I was doing something wrong or not listening to her, she was just...fresh. She'd had a month off, was with a group of other horses and it was a brisk fall day. Instead of hopping off and trying to calm her down, I stuck it out and pointed her towards the trail. Not even 200 yards down trail and I was on a loose rein again, albit at her fastest possible, almost but not quite a trot walk. She was calm and forward and happy the entire rest of the ride. I have to remind myself (and my friends tell me also) that she is pretty young, only six or so, with only a solid year of training and work. We'll get there, and I rarely have to guess how she feels at any given moment.

Tonight my husband drove me to the barn and he and my son helped me set up her supplements and clean and pack her feet. She handled the minor chaos of the kid and puppy running around and playing calmly, without stress. Tomorrow I'll take a long lunch and ride in the daylight, hopefully without the airs aboveground nonsense!