Tuesday, I came home thoroughly disappointed and with a sad voice, I said to my husband, "I don't think Tessa and I are meant to be." We'd had a rough ride. Here is what happened.
I arrived for my practice ride on time. I found Tessa eating grass out in the field. As I got closer to her, she stopped to greet me with a look and then went back to eating her grass. I put her lead on her and led her back to the barn. I'm not sure if anyone else encounters this but she seems to be very particular about where I lead her. It's almost like she remembers the path she took to get to her spot in the field and she wants to take the exact same path back. Is that possible?
As usual, she was a breeze to groom and tack up. Once done we went to the outdoor riding ring. We had the whole place to ourselves! I love it when that happens. We can do what we want without worrying about other people accidentally getting in our way.
We walked and I practiced pushing her into her corners and pushing her back on the track. Once she seemed warmed up, we started a light trot. She did a light trot and quickly moved to a faster pace. Things seemed to be going really well and I was getting excited to try a canter. You see on Sunday, we tried to canter and she would start her canter and then give it up. I tried squeezing at top capacity and still she said, "no way, I won't do it!" and stopped. I tried my crop for a little more motivation but still it was a no go. Anyhow, I was thoroughly hopeful and excited to see if she would put more effort into her canter this time around.
After riding for about 30 mins, I asked for a canter. 2 strides and she quit! ARGH!!! I asked again. 3 or 4 strides and she quit. I then tried the other direction. This was her good direction and she made it 1/4 of the ring and then quit. I tried again and this time she started throwing her head around. I tried my crop and all that did was piss her off and she kicked! She kicked!! My trustworthy horse kicked out in protest to something as simple as cantering! What was going on?? Disappointed, angry, I gave up and cooled her down in the grass. Tessa did not get cookies that night (mostly because I'd run out of molasses and couldn't make them for her.) She did get some grass but not nearly as much as usual and after a short munching session, I put her out in the paddock and went home.
After telling my husband that I didn't think Tessa and I were meant to be, I wondered if I should even be part-boarding her at all. I decided that on Thursday I would give Tessa and myself a break by riding a different horse.
On Thursday, I arrived at the barn and found that Tessa was already being ridden in the earlier lesson. It seemed like fate split us up for one night. I looked at the lesson sheet and found that Duchess had been ridden earlier in the day as well. I decided to ask the instructor who I should ride. She suggested Candy but I wanted a horse that I could practice my canter with and Candy's canter is a little funny. She then suggested Tara. I had heard good things about Tara so off I went to get her.
Tara is a sweet ex race horse who is very particular about her bridle and who is very slim. She is a bay horse with small white spots all over her body. I was warned that she is more forward than Tessa and told not to use a crop.
I tacked her up except for the bridle and headed out. The instructor put her bridle on. After walking her around a little bit, I got on. Sitting on her felt like I was sitting on a banister. She is tiny! And tall! It was odd being up there with little for my legs to hang on to. She walked around a little slowly. At this point she didn't seem very forward. After a few rounds, the instructor asked me to put her into a trot. I squeezed. Nothing. I squeezed harder. She sped up her walk to almost a trot. A little more squeezing and off we went. Her trot didn't require too much squeezing to keep her going but it felt weird posting with my legs so close together.
We changed directions and then we were asked to canter. After my experience with Tessa in our last two rides, I was worried. I was worried that I had forgotten how to ask for a canter. Turns out I hadn't forgotten. I asked and Tara cantered! Yeah! It was a nice smooth canter too. We were asked to canter through the middle of the ring and change directions and this is where things started to go downhill. I asked for a lead change and she kicked her canter up a notch. I had a small panic moment but got her to a trot.
Next we jumped. While asking for a lead change made her go fast, seeing a jump made her go even faster. We did a few jumps but the speed was frightening. Her jump was a little downhill too. She rushed to jumps, jumped, and then dropped her head. This left me with nothing to hold on to and because my legs also had little to hold on to, I kept losing my balance. It felt dangerous to be off balance at such a fast pace.
After a few attempts, I turned to one of the other girls in the lesson and asked her if she wanted to switch horses. She loves to jump and she was riding a pony, Loki, that reminded me a little bit of Tessa. We switched. She had a great ride with Tara around the ring and didn't mind the speed. I took Loki to a trot, then a canter, and then ended my lesson.
At this point, all I wanted was my horse back. I wanted my Tessa. I think she missed me too. After putting Loki in the paddock, I went in search of Tessa to give her my second apple and to tell her how much I missed her and how much I was looking forward to riding her again. When she heard my voice she backed away from the hay she was eating to greet me and I gave her my apple.
I now think that we are just two friends who had a bad night and maybe we are meant to be after all.
