It was cold on Wednesday morning, so cold that Debbie called me up to make sure I was coming.  It was down to 25° F, and a light breeze was blowing.  I told her it would really help me to ride since I was not able to ride either Friday or Sunday and my walking was getting worse, but if it was too cold for her it was fine, I could ride on Friday.  She told me to come on out.

When I got out to the stable the ground was frozen hard.  I had brought out both of my exercise sheets because of the cold breeze, even though I was worried that they might “fry” Tercel’s brain.  Debbie said to put them on, he had worn a blanket recently when the temperature was in the teens and had no problems with it.  We groomed Tercel (my job is using the slicker brush on his coat fungus), saddled him, put the exercise sheets on with no problems and then Debbie had a minor discussion with Tercel about putting on the BOT poll cap.  I asked Debbie if she could ride Tercel for a few minutes before I got on in case Tercel had a meltdown walking with the exercise sheets on.

Debbie got her helmet, gladly mounted Tercel, and walked around the ring.  She said Tercel was accepting the exercise sheets but the ground was definitely too hard to do anything beyond walking and that Tercel was being very careful about his feet.  That was fine with me.  I mounted, we walked around, when Tercel showed interest in anything inside or outside the ring I told him to stop, counted slowly up to ten, and told him to walk.  He was remarkably peaceable under me until halfway through the ride when he started head slinging, on contact, off contact, walking slow or walking faster, periodically he started slinging his head.  Debbie finally decided, near the end of my ride, to take the poll cap off of Tercel.  Tercel did not protest at all, he did not imitate a giraffe, and the last few minutes of my ride he just slung his head once.

Friday it was a little warmer, and the ground was not frozen solid.  While my son and I worked on Mia, Debbie dealt with Tercel though she asked me to use my slicker brush on his back.  I offered one of my exercise sheets for Tercel but she thought it was warm enough for him not to need it, she was planning to RIDE him.  Mia got the poll cap so Tercel did not have to deal with it.  Debbie got out to the ring about 10-15 minutes before I did and when I got out to the ring neither Tercel nor Debbie were very happy with each other.  The wind was much stronger than on Wednesday, and Tercel decided to act like the craziest Arab in an “I don’t like Arabs” spiel.  Anything moved in the wind--big shy.  When Debbie made him circle around to return to the shying place Tercel did his “I don’t have any brains and I don’t have to obey you” behavior which, earlier in his life had resulted in a quick and panicked dismount by his rider.  Debbie did get off once, after an explosive canter, buck, and cutting horse type dodge on the forehand the saddle slipped a little, so she repositioned the saddle, tightened the girth more, and got back on.  Their disagreements continued.

Mia was a perfect angel, though she did give Tercel some dirty looks when Debbie was riding beside me.  I was looking at Debbie and Tercel, so overwhelmingly thankful that I was not on Tercel that day.  Last week I wrote that Tercel is really too much horse for me, and part of the reason is that I no longer have the balance and endurance necessary to ride a vigorous horse saying NO.  I knew that Tercel still had several “fights” in him, “fights” that could be triggered by any number of things, and on Friday Tercel’s trigger was the cold wind gusts that blew stuff around.  What Debbie was doing might not have been pretty, and I am sure some soft-hearted people would have thought she was being mean, but what Debbie was doing was NECESSARY, horses have to learn to obey their riders even when the world is not perfect enough for the horse.  They have to learn to obey their riders even if their brains are “frying.”  They have to learn to trust and obey their riders even if all hell is breaking loose around them.  A horse who can only be ridden in perfect conditions is pretty useless.

When I got tired I dismounted and went up to Debbie, told her I had to go in but to feel free to go on riding Tercel for as long as she needed, then offered her my crop which she took (but did not use.)  Fifteen minutes later my son and I had finished untacking, grooming and giving Mia her treat, and I went out to see how Debbie was doing.  She was leading Tercel from the ring, and she told me she finally go the “good note” on which to finish her training session.

I have this feeling that Tercel has 4 to 5 more meltdowns to go through before it registers with him that his old successful games of “scare my rider half to death” won’t work any more.  Last week I had told Debbie that I figured it would take six months before Tercel would be a safe enough ride for me when Debbie was not in the ring, and she agreed.  I am not worried about getting back up on him, I trust Debbie and I know she will tell me that I have to ride another horse for my lesson when conditions outside are likely to cause another meltdown.  My plan of just walking Tercel until he learns the language of my aids and starts trusting me on a minimal level is still operative.  I will have my quiet discussions with Tercel at the walk during my lessons, and Debbie will have her possibly more vigorous discussions with Tercel on Friday at the trot and canter.  My only change of plans is that when I plan on trotting him in a few weeks I will wait for a day in which the wind is not gusting.  We WILL successfully turn Tercel into a good citizen of a big lesson/boarding barn.  All it takes is consistency, humane riding, and Debbie and I not allowing Tercel to get away with his old games.

I am looking forward to this.  I just wish I could still safely ride through the meltdowns like I used to decades ago when I my parents gave me their ruined 7/8 Arab  mare, and I went through many of the same problems Debbie has had with Tercel.  That mare, years later, ended up being owned by a family (or did she own the family?) of beginners and she carefully took care of them.  It can be done.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran