Have I Conquered My Fear?

My sister and I were able to get out for another trail ride. Our annual Pony Cousin's Stampede is weeks away and we haven't even been able to get our horses out on the trails to prepare for the big event. Unfortunately, weather and jobs have gotten in the way of conditioning our horses for this yearly event. So we have dedicated one day a week to get our horses on the trail, because the Stampede is coming up quick and you all know how we like to be prepared! It started out overcast, imagine that. The sun was supposed to burn off the clouds, but it happened really late in the day. All I can say is, at least it didn't rain!

Whoa! Wait a minute! Those aren't gray ear tips in the picture! How did those get in there?



I have decided that I am going to take Fritzy to our annual Pony Cousin's Stampede (more on that at the bottom of this post.) And since I have so much fear and confidence issues with Fritzy, I thought I better get her out on the trails before the trip. A lot of my fear has been slowly disappearing.......it really helped my confidence with Fritzy when I did ground work with her last summer. The other thing that has really helped my confidence is working with horses every day for a living. I handle all types of horse personalities day in and day out, and if I can handle a crazed Arabian, I should be able to handle a semi-crazed Paint, right? Well, okay, she isn't exactly semi-crazed, but my mind does think that way from time to time, especially when I let a little bit of that fear slip back into the brain from when she dumped me years ago. Okay, not a little, a lot of fear! But it has gotten better, believe me! It has been a really long process, I will never forget what happened, but I have forgiven her for what she did and I have come to the realization that it wasn't her being mean and intentionally trying to hurt me.
So, fear aside, I took Fritzy on a trail ride.

But before we loaded up to head out to the trail head, I took her up to my unfinished arena, and lunged her. I lunged her good. Once she realized the footing was nice and soft, she took off running and bucking. Oh dear. Just what I need, to see my usually lazy Paint running and bucking on the lunge line right before I take her on a trail ride! She does not do this. I can barely get her to lope on the lunge line. But I realized that she must really like the footing, it wasn't hard and jarring on her body. It was nice and soft. I had no problem getting her to lope. She even did a slower western pleasure lope. She would break into a trot, and I would just kiss to her and she would go right into the lope, something I haven't seen her do in years. I usually have to chase her down with the lunge whip and crack it to get any movement out of this horse. Once I realized that it was probably the footing that was making her feel good, and she calmed down, we were ready to load them up.



When we pulled into the trail head, there was no one there. Gotta love trail riding on weekdays! On weekends the trail head can fill up quickly and a lot of people pull in, see the parking area full, then pull back out and leave. Not to be this day. Although a truck and trailer pulled in right behind us. The women that were in that truck got out and asked us if we were familiar with the trails there and if we knew how to get to the "picnic" area. I told them that I was very familiar with the trails, as I have ridden there for 6 years. They asked if they could tag along with us. I said sure. They then asked if we were riding gaited horses. I told them that no, we were riding just a Paint and an Appaloosa.

The women were really nice. There was a grandma, mother and daughter, and a friend. The grandma was riding a pretty Appaloosa, the mom and 7 yr old daughter rode a Palomino Quarter Horse, and the friend rode a 6 yr old Mustang of theirs that didn't have very many miles on it.



Once we got on our horses, I realized that I didn't have any fear at all about being on Fritzy. Usually when I first get on her, my stomach gets all twisted in knots. Not so this time. I actually felt really comfortable. We headed out towards the stream first and followed the trails that take us to the "picnic/bathroom" area. The women wanted to know how to get there. Hopefully they will remember the route. I tried picking the easy way there. After a quick snack, we got back on our horses and rode out to the other side of the power lines so I could show my sister an area where they have recently logged. Some of our favorite trails used to be in that area.



On the way back to the trail head, the women asked if we minded that they jog for a while. I said sure. I have always loved Fritzy's jog. She has that really nice, smooth, slow western pleasure jog that you can ride all day long. Brandy has a slow jog, but it is choppy, not that smooth unless it is real slow, and it is almost an up and down motion, not side to side like Fritzy. I was feeling so comfortable on Fritzy that I was turned around in the saddle talking to whoever was behind me, not even paying attention to where Fritzy was going. Sometimes she can walk like a drunken sailor, and you just never know where she might end up.



I also realized that Fritzy has picked up some bad habits on the trail. I think my OH lets her get away with a little too much. I don't let my horses "snack" on the trail. I think it is a bad habit, and I want my horses to pay attention to me and the trail, not to a bush or tree they want to grab a bite out of. Brandy rarely grabs anything to eat. Maybe once or twice on a ride she might try to grab something, but she is very well mannered when it comes to that. I noticed right away that Fritzy had her head down or to the side constantly trying to grab a bite. I have always told my OH to not let her eat, but I think he lets her get away with it. I was constantly correcting her. I also noticed that she wasn't listening to my legs at all. I know this is partially my fault for not riding her much, and I know my OH doesn't use leg when he rides. He is still a beginner, and he just sits there and goes along for the ride. Fritzy also didn't back very well, and just overall wasn't very attuned to me and my aids. This is definitely something I will have to work on. I also know that Fritzy is a "brick" wall, unlike Brandy, who is very attentive to every leg and hand signal I give her. I have to remember that they are two totally different horses, and they respond a lot differently.

The only real "big" issue I had with Fritzy, was when we were almost back to the trail head, we ride on a paved road, and there is a small grassy shoulder on the left that rider's use. I could not get Fritzy over to the grassy shoulder. She wanted none of that. A car even stopped to wait for us to go by, not knowing what Fritzy might do. As I was trying to get her over to the shoulder, I still wasn't fearful of her reaction to the force of my aids to try to get her on the shoulder. I finally got her over. She didn't over react from the pressure. Fritzy is the kind of horse that you can only push so much. You can hit a limit with her and once you hit that limit, she has been known to over react. Thankfully I didn't exceed that limit. (No, there wasn't anything "scary" in the bushes, she was just being a big pain in the you know what, and she did not want to move over. I think she was just trying to show off to the guy in the car, who was very patient by the way. He stopped and waited until I had the "situation" under control. Not a lot of people do that. )



Back at the trail head we unsaddled the horses and went and got the email address of one of the women. They don't live far from the trails and we told them we will email them when we are going for rides. It is always good to meet new horsey friends and have more riding partners, if we want more people to ride with.



This is that 6 yr old Mustang that hadn't had many hours being ridden. It was really cute and did very well on the trails.



When we got home, we hosed the horses off, put them away and fed them their dinner. This is what Fritzy had to say about her day:



I am very proud of myself. I have just made one HUGE step in my confidence level with Fritzy. I now feel that I can get on her and ride her with confidence, trust and NO FEAR. That is to not say I won't ever have a fearful moment again on her, but to have a few hours where I could feel totally relaxed, comfortable and not have that twisted feeling in my stomach was absolutely amazing!

Just in case you were wondering why I am taking Fritzy on our annual Pony Cousin Stampede and not my trusted mount Brandy, is because Brandy does have her moments, like crazy moments. Sometimes I can't relax on a ride because she can get herself all worked up. That is when it is no fun for me. I want to be able to relax and not have a horse that might jig the whole ride, or spook at every monster around the corner. Brandy has gotten so good on trails, but she does have her moments. Fritzy on the other hand, is pretty mellow and laid back. She doesn't have multiple personalities, just one dominant personality. I can pretty much guarantee that she will give me many relaxing trail rides the whole time we are there. As long as I can keep my fear at bay......

I have been having numerous problems with my internet. I lost half of this blog post and had to start over. The cable company can't get out here for another week. So if you don't see me for awhile or if I am not posting, it is because I can't get online. I am supposed to be online all the time, but I think something is wrong with my cable modem, and it just goes out at any moment. I have never had this problem before and it is interfering with not only blogging, but also my email. I have a lot of things I want to share with you all, but with the internet issue, it could be awhile before I can fill you all in!