Ollie is still (worryingly) a little stiff in his hind end. I’m hoping that he is just foot sore, and that when the farrier comes next week to put shoes on him (for the first time ever! I’m really curious to see what happens) he’ll start to feel better? But then, This is a horse we are talking about. And it’s never simple with these animals is it? Anyways, since he was stiff, I didn’t want to do anything to hardcore. But a nice walk trail ride with 3 minutes of trot for Tanta’s rehab program sounded great! So off Brianna and I went! The first interesting thing that happened was a big dump truck zoomed passed. But lucky, both of our horses are used to cars/trucks and nothing came of it except a couple snorts. Next. We turned off the road with the big truck and onto the small one that leads to the beginning of the trail, so we walked down the new road, and past a (in Tanta’s mind) VERY scary rock. at the end of the road I could see someone I knew walking a horse in hand. Both Ollie and Tanta clearly saw this horse, so I figured they wouldn’t spook. Lol. Famous last words. Once we got closer- directly across the road from them- my horse JUMPED into to air, then landed with his front feet… in the ditch. He proceeded to jump back out of the ditch, almost leaving me in it. It was kinda funny actually. We moved on, and nothing very weird happened for awhile. The horses were a little crazy, but It was a given considering how windy it was out.
Then, we reached the end of the trail and got to another road. I love this one road, it is generally quiet. and there is two big hills and they are perfecto for galloping up! The timing worked out great and Brianna’s alarm went off saying it was time for 1 minute of trot! So we got to trot up one hill, then we went down it, and at the base of the hill… is an old rusty truck that hasn’t been used in 30+ years. That both Tanta and Ollie have seen SO MANY TIMES. But, guess what? Of course Tanta (who was leading) saw it and spooked all the way across the road, almost falling down the ravine on the other side. Luckily B managed to get her under control in time. And, we proceeded. Theeeeeeen, when we could literally SEE our driveway, we were that close, a large truck turned around the bent behind us and spook Ollie like crazy. He, (surprise?) once again, JUMPED INTO THE DARN DITCH. What on earth horse? And then he and Tanta Proceeded to gallop down the road with me and Brianna hanging on.(maybe 40 feet? The bolting didn’t go on for thhhaaaaatt long… but?!?) I honestly have no idea why. Ollie has NEVER. Spooked at a car in the whole 3 years I’ve had him. And neither Brianna nor I have known Tanta to do something like that either. So… what the?!? I won’t take him out on the road if he acted like this, and he never has. Also, how come I ended up in a ditch TWICE in one ride? Ollie’s never showed any interest in jumping into ditches before today!
Total score.
ditch: 2
Maren: 0
Ponies and Potter 