Another Farewell

Jill cried on the way there and a little in the paddock before she left.

She realized driving home that it had been their farewell ride. Not hers and the horses,' but the place. But it felt almost the same! So sad somehow. She wished they'd done a little more. She thought she'd miss the cowboy's baby blues too, boo hoo, and the hopeful anticipation that they would actually ride together.

The little guy had scabs in his ears, especially on the right. She had no idea what was going on there. And the old guy really needed a soak in that whatever-silver, not to mention a trim, as the thrush was still full on and his rotting feet stunk! Poor thing. His skin and coat weren't very good either. Was it because he was so much older or was he not well? He had that skin condition on the front of his back legs again. At least she was pretty sure she'd seen him have that before.

Her pocket bay had a good day. Except for when he took two big spooks at something in the junk, once on the way out and once on the way back. For a thoroughbred, though, he's pretty brave. He seemed to be learning to spook and stop rather than spook and turn at least. They trotted down the hill once, and cantered up once. He walked a log and then jumped the x in the ring as calm as could be. They went beside the driveway bridge close to the water and just stood listening and looking. One time she let him away with something, and he got to turn around where he wanted, because she'd realized her original plan to pass between the creek and the tree could get ugly if they really started to argue. They did have one disagreement around the tree with the swing, because she asked him to walk between the ring fence and the terrifying, horse eating bench. She had started to worry about him rearing and the branches above her heads when he finally figured out it was okay and squished on through. She did not like the way he spooked at the noisy truck and trailer that came up behind them when they rode the fence nearest the road, but then again, maybe that was his first ever time? He was pretty good about trotting up the hill to end the outing, and she could tell he was actually tired.

She'd spooked them with the guitar a bit before bringing them in, and then shoved the gate so hard it scared the little one and almost came back and hit him. It was her mistake, she told him so, also requesting that he Get Over It, on their way back to the barn. They were both strong and spooking on the way into the stable, maybe because the wind was up. Thankfully, a small ring by the barn door was open, so she dumped one and they headed to their stalls one by one.

It was nice riding against the wind. It can challenge your balance sometimes and Jill liked the variety. The variety of the place itself there would be missed. She felt sad that she hadn't explored it enough yet, but time marches on... and the gas prices would be her incentive to be happy biking to a place closer to where she lived.
*

Jill's fundamental problem with the Manhattan Riding Acadamey, was the backwards way they were creating an overcontrolled bubble environment, where nothing dramatic ever happened, rather than working instead to develop talented riders and horsepersons who can deal with horses in the real world. And, horses that can handle said real world.

On her personal stable "shopping" list was
[ ] plastic flapping flag stuff, like car dealerships have
[ ] umbrellas
[ ] strollers
[ ] loud music and feedback
[ ] drums, cymbals etc