I have just spent a half hour surrounded by the smell of horse and fly spray, sweating gently as I sat in a lawn chair holding a hose with Asia standing beside me quietly while I sprayed her left cannon bone trying to take down the mysterious swelling that appeared this morning. The cold water must feel good as she never moved, except once to tighten her spine by arching her neck and pulling her back down, then releasing the tension. After 20 minutes I turned off the hose, applied a tightening jelly to the medial cannon, wrapped it in Saran Wrap and then applied a cotton wrap over the Saran Wrap and a track bandage as the final layer. She's not lame, just puffy, and I really hope that by tomorrow morning the swelling will have disappeared. She's too young to start up with soundness issues. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it's not a serious injury since she's not lame and very willing to canter in the field when she realized that Babe was being ridden away and out of sight and she moved out strongly. Still, that swelling is not good.
I've ridden Asia two days in a row and was looking forward to the third, as there's a rule of horsedom that day three is always good. Days one and two may be full of vim, vinegar, and high spirits, but day three? Universally acknowledged as a ride guaranteed to be delightful. Of course, horses don't read the rule book and sometimes ignore this, but odds are in the rider's favor.
My niece describes her time so far as "Awesome." She's thirteen, so I'll take awesome. Right now she's so happy to be around horses that she gladly shovels manure from the trailer when the horses are unloaded and when put on "poop patrol" at Jim's barn by Grits last Friday, she eagerly scraped up any droppings from the horses in the barn aisle as soon as they hit. She didn't mind wielding the large broom to sweep the aisle when we finished. I don't mind these chores, either, but it is nice to have a minion.
I remember being her age, or near enough to it, and having such a romanticized view of horses. The Black Stallion books contributed greatly. The Black loved Alec, choosing him over a life of being a wild stallion, saving his life repeatedly. Really, The Black is more Lassie than horse. Horses don't love humans like dogs do. They'll never save Timmy from the well, unless Timmy can tie a rope around himself and the other end around the horse and have someone call the horse to dinner. Timmy will get dragged out pronto, and then dragged all the way to the barn and into the stall because the horse isn't stopping to let Timmy untie himself once he's out of the well shaft.
But teenage girls dream of horses loving them back and if they're lucky, they never outgrow that love of the horse, even after discovering boys (or other girls), which might love them back. The really lucky teenage girls find human love, but don't lose their love for the horse. What happens is that the girl grows up and if she's lucky, she'll come to realize that with patience will come trust. Asia, after four years, trusts me. It was gradual, we built up to it over time, and it took a good two and a half years before I felt that Asia trusted me completely.
That trust came from working together. We learned to read each other and to load on trailers. I learned how to ask her. Unlike Spooky, who was a very nervous horse, but who wanted to do what I asked and would not balk and would try and go well past what was good for him, Asia must be convinced that I am not sending her to her death. She really didn't believe that when I first got her and getting her to do the scary stuff takes a lot more than a strong word. Of course, there is an adage that goes, "You tell a gelding, you ask a mare, and you discuss it with a stallion." Asia subscribes to that one.
But over time, by reading and taking clinics and paying people more knowledgeable than I to teach me (Mark Rashid, Kathleen Lindley, Corrie Land, and Jenny Eilers), or just hanging out and riding with smart, kind and very generous folks (Grits McMullen), I've learned how to communicate with Asia and she no longer believes that I am asking her to do something that will cause her pain and death (until I add a new supplement to her feed and then OMG!I am trying to poison her ;).
She doesn't love me, but she likes me. She likes me because she trusts me. The last three days she's jumped right on her stock trailer whenever I've asked, and I've asked at least twice each day. Friday evening Jim had his two horse, fully enclosed slant load still hooked to his truck after a trip to the vet's for teeth floating that morning and on a whim I took Asia to it and asked her to get on. When I bought her, I had a two horse, fully enclosed straight load trailer that terrified her. We spent days getting her on that trailer and after a year of wondering every time whether or not she would load, I sold it and bought the stock trailer. It wasn't a panacea, but it was an improvement and I could count on having her loaded in 15 minutes or less, as opposed to 45 minutes for the fully enclosed. The last six months she's not given me any problems loading on the stock (and yes, I am knocking on wood as I tempt the fates by saying this, but I feel pretty confident nonetheless), so I thought Jim's slant load a pretty safe bet. And it was! She walked over, looked in, snorted once and I asked her to load. I stand at her side, not in the trailer, and point in with my leading hand, which is the left, and twirl the end of the lead in my right at her hip. She put her front two feet in, I praised her as the smartest horse on the planet, she backed out, then stepped right up and walked in the trailer. You would have thought she'd just won the Kentucky Derby by the amount of praise she got then. She stood in the trailer for about twenty seconds and then I asked her to come out and she did calmly.
This morning I loaded her with no problems and took her and Babe to where India lives. The plan was to let my niece watch Jenny work India and then she and I would go back to Horse Camp. I forgot to take the camera along yesterday when we visited and I wanted a picture of her by the river. Well, when we got to India's barn, I noticed the swelling. That nixed the plans for the afternoon, but all was not lost for Jenny took Caroline out for a long ride around the entire farm and down to the road and back up the long, long driveway. She had a good time. I hosed off Asia's leg and wrapped it, but I didn't have any drawing agents in the trailer. The wash rack is outside on the side of the barn under an overhang with a concrete floor. Asia and I walked toward it and she stopped, snorted, planted her feet and let me know that she was sure I was taking her someplace scary and she might die. I stopped, spoke to her softly and asked her to move forward. She did, two steps and then stopped and snorted again. I reassured her with voice and then asked her to walk to the wash rack and this time she did. We stood there for three or four minutes while she blew loudly through her nose and gave the hairy eyeball to the hose, the cabinet holding all the shampoos, the towel hanging from the plumbing, and the water trough that's tucked in a corner. After she quit blowing, she let me hose her down.
Three years ago I would have gotten her in the wash area, but I do not doubt that it would have taken much, much longer. Tonight she was happy to stand quietly while I hosed her off and thought about how my summers are defined by the smell of citronella in fly spray, the smell of horse, the sounds of a hoof stomping against the dusty ground, the swish of a tail, and the noises of insects. I am always slightly sticky and always hot. I am always happy for I am still a thirteen year old girl who loves her horse very, very much.
And oh, if you're wondering if Asia and India had a joyful mother and daughter reunion, the answer is no. When I led India over to Asia and they sniffed noses, Asia snorted and gave the "Go away!" squeal common when horses meet for the first time. So I led India away and put her out in the field and there was not even a look back toward her mother. Oh, nature! You so disappoint us humans sometimes, or at least us anthropomorphizing ones. Actually, it was pretty much the reaction I expected and I was not disappointed. The weaning was a total success. Yay!
Here's Caroline on Babe enjoying a ride last Monday morning down Franklin Road.
And here she is riding Luna, who belongs to Jim and Grits, in the pecan orchard. Caroline is a jumping fool. I like that. ;0)
Joy, kiddos...hope you find it this summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment