I was proud of myself the other day and
had to share my success. Two weekends ago I took Bunny out for a
conditioning ride on a very windy afternoon. She was pretty full of
herself but behaving pretty well till we headed home and passed a
bunch of hyper horses and a strong tail wind. She went into her
freight train mode. She sped up, tuned me out and was ready to fly
and take no prisoners. My first thought was, “Boy, I sure hope she
isn't like this all the way home”. But them I immediately caught
myself and said “Hey, I don't have to put up with this”. She
wasn't listening to me so I made a choice to do what it took to
change that. It took about half a dozen walk, trot transitions and I
had my nice pleasant mare back again.
It's really rare that she just tunes me
out like that. She wasn't running off, just pushing her own agenda
and ignoring me. I was proud of myself for not getting caught up in
my plan (to ride my 9 miles in 70 minutes or less) but to address the
more important issue. I didn't check my watch the entire way home
just made sure my horse was giving me her full attention and enjoyed
my ride. What do you know. When I checked me watch as I dismounted I
discovered I was right at 70 minutes :)
This ride season I'm going to do my
best to not get caught up in the moment and spend a lot time fighting
my horse. She is competitive and that's good. I love her drive but I
want her attention and I need to be willing to take a few minutes to
get it back when she's trying to tune me out, even in the middle of
competition. It's worth it!!!
Oh and on a side note. We did win an
award after all. Turns out Bunny did the most AERC miles of any
Standardbred last year. I was a little sad that we didn't do more
miles. I guess that just means we'll have to win it again another
year with more miles :) I really want other people to consider giving
a Standardbred a try!
