3 Word Blog Hop

I am so behind on this one, but I thought it would be an entertaining one for May.   Three Day Adventures with Horses started this blog hope, and I figured better late than never! Below are 3 words that I think describe May, although she would probably tell you differently.

Opinionated

It is not that May is every really bad. However, she will 100% let you know what she thinks about whatever it is you are doing. Our first ever lesson? She tried to run out the gate on me while we were just trotting around. The right shoulder dropped, and she spun towards that open gate. Our first BN event, I gave her a tap on the shoulder at the first jump, and she jumped over it like it was on fire. How dare I touch her with that weapon. I mean, the below was just because I wouldn’t canter her around with bit loops in the reins, while she plowed along the forehand:

Intelligent

You know that old saying that an elephant never forgets? May never forgets. Good behavior stays pretty solid, but a bad behavior once learned has to be forcibly unlearned. She is also fabulous at making decisions. Not sure about the footing on cross county? She will slow down and figure it out, no matter how wound up she is. If terrain changes, she is going to read it and adjust accordingly, not just throw herself down a hill and hope for the best. (see the below jump then hill sequence to see what I’m talking about)

Complicated

That’s right. I think my draft cross, unflappable, corgi horse is complicated. And she is. My trainer often reminds me that she is not a straight forward ride. I have to ask for things correctly, or I do not get them. If I let things go wrong once (i.e. let her run down to a jump on her forehand), we will be spending the rest of the lesson fixing it. She might not run out, take off, spook, or throw me, but she challenges me everyday. It shows up in new ways every day.

One day, she will stand perfectly still to be groomed and tacked up, other days she wants to dance around and needs to be constantly reminded that her feet should remain still until I tell them to move. It makes her decisively not a beginner horse, and often not a horse for an accomplished rider that lacks strong horsemanship. She has run away (in a slow trot) with at least 3 people, and she once put a friend of mine in the dirt after a small crossrail. How? She just put her head down and shook it, but she could tell she wasn’t being taken seriously. She let everyone know that was a bad idea.

She might be the least spooky horse I have ever ridden, but if she feels you aren’t paying attention, she will decide the trail ride should be over, and it’s time to head back to the barn. It’s never mean or nasty and is more of a gentle attempt to get her own way than dangerous, but I have no doubt that if she wasn’t corrected properly, her behavior would snowball. I will say though, that this kind of rebellion gets more subtle and less severe as the years have worn on.