Flying With Eli

Jill always said that the ONE day in Ocala that she actually caved to peer pressure and rode without her helmet to be cool, was the ONE day she actually fell off. 

"I was supposed to be walking only, with the unspookable boss of the boss's event horse. He'd been on stall rest and we'd built a rapport during all the laser treatments and handwalking, so I knew he'd be safe."

He was also a measley 15.3, and after the giants Jill had been riding for the very tall boss, she felt fine about wearing sunglasses out on a hack instead of her hat. Members of the High Performance Committee had shown up that day, and she wanted to make good impressions.

She had been grateful for the chance to turn Buddy around to face the tractor in front of them. The boss had bestowed this honour, "I know how much you like working with him on the ground."

They made fun of her around there, for working with Buddy, with her helment on. But he was dangerous, and powerful, and intentionally kicked OUT at you. He had also run her over, knocked her to the ground and dragged her towards the barn. Wearing some safety gear was the least she could do to protect herself was the way Jill looked at it. She didn't have medical benefits but she wasn't refusing to work with the animal! Wearing the helmet certainly increased her confidence and gave Buddy's ESP the correct message that she was not giving up...

Anyway, that day, during the exhilerating/relaxing and unusually helmet-free hack, she went flying. That is, after about 30 calm and relaxing walk minutes in the Florida sun, Elvis took a couple of tiny trot steps and leapt with all his might, up and then forward. An eternity later, as his front feet were about to hit the ground, and Jill was pitched a little forward in her saddle, he added a tremendous buck. What an athlete!

Jill could see the ground coming a long time before she felt it. "I almost stayed on" she said, after hitting the dirt and making eye contact with her still mounted trail buddy, as Elvis backed up in a scramble, dragging her through the grass by the rein still clenched in her right fist. Jill was amazed to be conscious and she didn't have the wind knocked out of her!

Robin said, "I saw. Now LET GO" firmly and calmly. Despite the fact nobody wanted that particular horse on the loose, a working student/employee getting pulled around was not healthy either. She would say later, in a terrified voice, "it was amazing. All four feet were off the ground at the same time. For a long time!" and rhyming off the daily allowable/aka recommended advil doses.

Jill could laugh about it, because the saving grace was that he caught her totally off guard. "That's why I wasn't hurt at all. I was totally not expecting it and totally relaxed! But thank goodness I didn’t land on my head. I am going to learn from the flying lesson with Elvis and never go out without my helmet ever again! You never know when you will go flying through the air!"

She would remain in Ontario the next winter and write three helmet promoting features for three different Horse Magazines. And, Jill would be comforted to eventually learn that the last 5 working students before her had been dragged by Buddy and refused to have anything to do with him afterwards. While she became known as the Nervous Nellie for dealing with him with her helmet on!

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

Bad Day

she thought it was pretty romantic the way the two of them just hopped on the horse bareback together.

"it's okay, i know what you're going thru" he said, as jill took one of the first temper tantrums she had ever had-on-a-horse in whole life. the beast had tried to mow her over and drag her back to the barn but she had run with him and managed eventually to stop him with her whole body weight, verbal commands and huge yanks on the lungeline attached to his bit.

she'd tried to call it a day (training wise) when she successfully got the brute back and forth to the round pen where they'd been headed in the first place, twice, with out getting dragged around and stood stock still against her will with or kicked or bit or whatEVER.

the boss's boyfriend wouldn't let it go at that however...

she started wearing her helmet around that horse after that.

and they made fun of her.

months and months later she found out the last 5 groom/working students HAD been dragged to the barn by him and refused to have anything to do with him afterwards.

Don't Use FORCE

Jill pleaded, over the phone, when Jim lamented that Buddy was his project now. No one else had time for such a pain in the neck. "I can't even get him into the round pen, never mind what he pulls should we actually make it in there..."

"Have you SEEN the scars wounds on that horse? He can take it. If you are gonna try and force him you're gonna hafta kill him, so I beg you to think of something else."

She secretly wanted Jim to bring the beast to her. She always enjoyed the challenge of Buddy - it was so gratifying when something actually went well.

"Have you heard the thing about how an outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person? I totally see how the program of horse care for convicts would be rehabilitating. Things with horses are all about patterns. If you lose your temper with a horse he remembers, and is fearful, (or in Buddy's case EXTRA stubborn and difficult) and you have to deal with the repercussions of your loss of temper the next time. And that takes a long time." Jill was going on and on.
"Conversely, should you let him away with something 10x because you are a patient person, and then lose it on the 11th time, you're no further ahead. You have to discipline him correctly each of the ten times and then you won't need the 11th. Make sense?"
*
I just tell him whoa and he whoas. "Right now, in fact, I am working on EVERYone's whoas. They are supposed to stay out on the track (of the lunge line) and whoa when I say so, not just carry on OR turn in and face me.