REINS: A Haven for Horses and Horse Lovers

[Merideth]

Well, I got to see Britt and ride her!!!!! It was absolutely wonderful. She is doing great at Jacie's house and she was happy to see me. I spent Monday and Tuesday at Jacie's house chilling (quite literally, on Monday it was at least -30) with my horse and riding and stuff. At the moment Britt is living with a 2 year old named Arggie. Arggie has been great for Britt. lol She used to be just sort of ho-hum about everything not related to riding. She didn't mess around with the other horses, she would run a little in the pasture before settling down to eat, she didn't really interact with the other horses, etc. Well, Arggie has changed that. haha Its so cute. He is in that super curious stage, plus he is just a very extroverted horse and he and Britt pester eachother all the time. You'll see in some of the pictures but he is constantly messing around with her and she is starting to retaliate and play with him. On Monday I was doing some groundwork with Britt in the pasture and Arggie came over to investigate. He was just standing there so nicely obvserving the groundwork and everything and all of a sudden I look over and he has reached over and bitten Britt's knee. Next thing you know he is snaking his head in the nip her shoulder, her neck, her cheek, anything he could reach. So of course Britt went to get him back and they were trading shots at each other. It was cute.

I did not ride Britt on Monday but Jacie and I did go ride her sister's horses, Roller and Honey. They are both foxtrotters and they are a blast to ride. Their foxtrot is something else, it takes some getting used to. Jacie hasn't ridden in almost a year and I haven't in 4 months but we had a blast on those two even though it was absolutely frigid. Then on Tuesday I actually rode Britt. She was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could not believe it. I spent quite awhile brushing her and tacking her up, making sure everything was just so and she looked nice. Then I took her out into the pasture to do a little bit of lunging and some quick groundwork. I was expecting her to have some bucks she needed to work out and endless energy. On the contrary I had to encourage her to keep trotting on the lunge line, she listened perfectly to my ground cues, and she stood stock still while I practiced mounting. She used to wiggle all over during mounting and I wanted to make sure she was going to stand still, we only had to practice once and all she did was move 1 foot to balance herself in the snow a little better.

When I actually got on her I couldn't believe it. SHe was sooooooooooooooo good! She didn't move a muscle until I was all situated in the saddle and I told her to move, she was perfectly content just walking around in whatever shape I told her to, she was reaching for contact with the bit. During the summer I spent forever trying to get her to understand the concept of long and low and she just would not seek contact through the bit. On Tuesday she was, obviously she was not collecting her head or anything but she wasn't getting all upset about contact through the bit and as I loosened my reins she would stretch down to maintain some contact. It was great. When I eventually asked her to trot she trotted off like it was no big deal at all, she was just as calm as could be. She flexed perfectly to the left (no surprises) but was still stiff to the right (still no surprise) but she really wasn't falling in like she used to on circles to the right. When trotting I almost had to encourage her to keep going. I didn't have to keep leg on her (that'll be the day lol) but if I sat back and sort of "stopped riding" she immediately came back down to the walk. She was turning just based on me looking, not even using rein pressure and she was maintaining a good tempo. After a couple minutes of her good behavior I decided we would try a little canter. This is where I thought things might get a little hairy but once again, she proved me wrong! She picked up the correct lead perfectly from the trot and just went right into nice canters. They were both a little fast but I really didn't care, she wasn't throwing a fit and she was cantering like a normal horse, really relaxed and just great. Even at the canter she didn't feel the need to keep going. She would canter about one circle and then she would just break into the trot sort of like she was saying "You know, all this cantering is great but I really don't need to do that right now." I didn't push it because I didn't want her to get all worked up or anything, I was enjoying the relaxed, quiet-eyed Britt and I didn't want that to change. She was just so calm, I couldn't believe it. The whole time she just had the calmest look in her eyes.
I love her to death!

I have about a million pictures of her so this may take a few posts to get them all but just bear with me.

Britt in Jacie's barn:


she looks kind of funny in that one^^







checking out Gaia, the cat

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Proud owner of Britt~ 16.2hh OTTB mare

[Merideth]

Oh, by the way, I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures in the above post. My camera does not like low light situations at all, even with the flash.

More pictures....riding Britt (I also apologize for my poor equitation, 4 months off has not been good for me haha)
somewhat resisting, but less that usual, me in mid post

awkward timed photo

canter! she looks so cute!

trotting while she stretches down

I realize our 'long and low' is not ideal but the idea was there. It used to be that as soon as I loosened the reins at all she would speed off with her nose up in the air so this is an improvement, she stayed at a steady pace and attempted to maintain the contact.

Britt and Arggie. Arggie thought I might need a little help with Britt, she was getting a little too out of control for me to handle you know. ;) lol




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Proud owner of Britt~ 16.2hh OTTB mare

[Merideth]

Arggie:




Alright, those are the end of my pictures. Sorry for the overload and the really long first post. I just had a lot to share! lol I really think that this time off has been good for Britt and I really think Arggie's playfulness has been good for her as well. She is learning to be a more outgoing horse and she was just as calm as could be for an OTTB with 4 months off when I rode her. Plus it seems like the time off has allowed to her figure out a few things that we were having trouble with. The only bad thing is that this visit and ride has made me miss her even more. Its hard when your horse is so good for you and is really excited to see you and then you have to leave. But, I'll see her again hopefully over break and if not, then there is spring break at least. However, I cannot wait until summer when I can spend every day with her again.
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Proud owner of Britt~ 16.2hh OTTB mare

[moonpi11]

I am so happy that you got to see Britt, and ride her, even if the weather wasn't necessarily cooperating! I know how much you miss her when you are up here... but she looks like she is having a great time.

There is no such thing as a pic overload... thanks for sharing!!
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[Merideth]

No problem Aly! I do miss her a lot and it was great to see her. I am going to go ride her again on Wednesday and Thursday so hopefully she is behaving herself again!
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Proud owner of Britt~ 16.2hh OTTB mare