Progress

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!