Thursday, March 26, 2009

A word to the wise...

If you are a nurse, and upon getting home from work, you decide it would be nice to hop on your horse bareback for a few minutes, don't do it while still in your scrubs. The really do not provide any grip. Now, I know this seems like common sense, but I thought I'd share just in case there are any other stupid nurses out there.

The good news was, Licorice was an angel. I did some ground work with her, practicing sidepassing (for some reason she sidepasses much better to the right than to the left) and also trying to get her to leave her front end where I put it. She likes to always turn and face me... this was recently a topic of debate on FHOTD. I personally do not think it is a problem for her to face me when stopped or when "whoa"ing on the lunge line, as long as she doesn't try to "crawl into my lap," as it was stated. And yes, she likes to do this. We are at a point where when she even shifts her weight towards me, a sharp look and a flick of the leadrope will change her mind.

Anyway, I digrees. This morning I worked on moving the forequarters. She yields the hind great, but she's not as automatic with her front end. When we got to where she would stay put for a good 5 seconds, I called it quits. This will definitely be a frequent lesson.

Anyway, I hopped on bareback, in my well worn and too-big scrubs... we walked all over the paddock with a minimum of attitude... I mean, there's still attitude but it's getting to where it's manageable. But stupid me, I decided to ask for a trot, which is normally no problem... but as my ass had no grip to it, being that my clothing was a little inappropriate, I proceeded to flop all over her back like a toddler. Oops. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not entirely blaming a wardrobe malfunction... if my seat were better, this probably wouldn't have been an issue).

But Licorice did exactly what she should have done... she kept trotting, because her retarded rider had told her to and hadn't asked her to stop. This, of course, didn't help my foolish ass up there scrambling for balance... but the point is, she was a good girl, and when I finally righted myself, I stopped her and told her so. Then we finished our little jaunt at a walk. Ears pricked forward and all.

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