Not Such A Jackass

A few months ago, I told you about how I had strayed from Tucker and found a new man. 

Well, it turns out Danny is an ass and I haven't ridden him much since then.  He's pulled a few nutties when people have actually asked things of him.  Not with me, but I'm sure if had he more chances he would.   He's great when a kid is on him and you're just leading them around, but get an experienced rider on him and he's like "hmmm, what can I do to avoid doing what she's asking".

I don't have time for that kind of nonsense.

So, since school got out, I've been riding Jackson.

I used to be afraid of Jackson.  For years, he would give me the evil eye and if I had to bring him in, he was always edgy and on high alert.  At barn #1, he hated to actually go in the barn and I had to resort to bribery with grain.  He was disgusted that he had to give in and come in for the grain and I was annoyed that I couldn't convince him that there were no ghosts at the door.

Over time, I saw a few people ride him and realized maybe he's not so evil.  I have no legitimate reason why I thought he was evil.

A long time ago, r-ster suggested maybe I should ride him, but she was sick and I was sure she was hallucinating.  Since she never suggested it again, I let it go and thought he might be a little more than I could handle.

When Tucker became in super high demand last month, she said I might need to think about riding Jackson.  After one hell of a wild canter around the ring the first time, where nothing I could do was going to stop him, we've had a great time. 

He is not evil. 

He actually seems to like what I do with him and he doesn't do much resisting. 

He hasn't done that maniac racing like he did the first time.  I would love to have seen that on video.  I didn't fall or jump off because I knew we were going too fast and he's too tall for me to safely get off.  I just kept racing around saying "I don't know what to do, he won't stop!" 

I had visions of him being so high that he'd just start jumping all the jumps and going bananas.  I have no idea why he finally stopped but he did and we started over and he's been fine.  I must have been doing something that said "yeeeee haaaw".

He is pretty nervous and so am I but we must cancel each other out because r-ster keeps telling me how much I relax him and how great he responds to me.  He's a horse who doesn't want to do something wrong, so if he does, he doesn't repeat his mistake.  This also means he tries to anticipate what I'm going to ask him, so he gets a little upset sometimes.  Somehow, I am able to calm him down and we do well together.

He really likes having a specific plan.  When we're warming up and it seems vague, he is on alert.  Once we start doing a pattern or something specific, he relaxes into it and is like "oh, I know how to do this".

I jumped him a few times the other day and it wasn't as crazy as I thought it was going to be.  They are going to have little jumping shows at the barn on Wednesdays this summer, so I wanted to see if Jackson would jump with me.  He will, but I chickened out for this past Wednesday because we had only done it once.   I didn't know what I was getting into and needed to be an observer once to see what it's like.

Before the summer is over, I am quite sure I will do one of the jumping shows.  Since it's at my "home barn" I can't turn down the opportunity!  I'd never trailer him and go somewhere because that would ratchet us both up to such a point we wouldn't be able to function, but if it's just something we can do right here, I think I'll do it!

Or maybe not. I'm kind of a chicken.

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Www.mommifried.com
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