I started riding a month before my 49th bday. I am currently living my dream. I am tired. It is difficult getting up at 5am four days per week and driving an hour away. BUT, as soon as I see my Boo, only the two of us exist. I have forgotten how tired I am, how much it costs to fill my tank and how far I’ve driven.
These past two weeks BAM (my trainer) and I have hauled Boo and one of her horses to a local community arena for my practice (in hauling) and to keep them accustomed to loading/unloading and being in different environments. My practices have been going very well. Each practice I become a better rider. Last week when we hauled out, I did not ride. Boo did so well then, that I had planned to ride the next time we hauled out.
We hauled out the next week.
We were at the trailer dressing the horses and ourselves. I had Boo’s halter around his neck while I was putting his bridle on. I bridled him and then began dressing myself. BAM closed the trailer door which spooked Boo and he nearly got that halter from around his neck trying to get away. I panicked (which should never be done around a horse) and yelled, “No, Boo!’’ What was that going to do? LOL, I said I panicked! Fortunately, I wasn’t too far from him, and the halter got caught between a bungee that went from over his head through the rings of his bridle and connected under his chest to the girth. I was able to quickly get hold of him and calm him down. He calms very quickly. Just needs reassurance. The onliest (I had an elderly friend that would say that, lol) reason my pretty boy didn’t take off down the street was because, Jehovah, my God, is looking out for Boo and me. BAM often tells me, “You’re so lucky” because Boo has just been great from the start and continues to impress us. From her experience with off the track thoroughbreds (OTTB), they have a great transition window from track life to learning something new. We did give him time to mentally adjust to his new life with us. But he was doing so well that his training and my training on him began a lot sooner than we expected. Anyway, what I am saying is that I do not believe in luck. And that’s how I respond to BAM. “I don’t believe in luck. I am blessed.” And I do not believe in good luck because of what James 1:17 says…all good things come from God (not having good luck).
Needless to say, I won’t make that mistake again.
After that I had to get myself together mentally. Boo was fine. I’m proud to say I did get it together and had a great first ride away from home base. I was on such a high the entire day from the success of that hauling out trip.
