Arwen the lesson horse? What? Never would have thought those words would be coming out of my mouth. This past weekend a friend from out of town came to visit who rides and I offered to let her take a lesson on Arwen. I wouldn't have offered Arwen up if she hadn't been going so damn nicely lately since, well, I don't want my friend to die. Hah. Just kidding, Arwen would never kill anyone on purpose.
Anyway, I thought it would be good for my friend to ride her, just like it would be good for Arwen to be ridden by someone else. And it turns out she was excellent! She listened well, came back when my friend asked her, she scooted off a little after the fences and a couple times kind of made a bid for them, but that was mostly due to my friend riding a totally strange horse, in a strange saddle with a strange instructor. Given some time she would do just fine with her, I think. I don't think Arwen will ever be an up-down lesson horse, but it makes me feel better knowing that she will probably be a nice 2'6" or lower lesson horse for riders looking to move up a bit from the dead sided schoolies when she gets older. She definitely has the brain for it, and as long as the rider is willing to listen to what she needs from them, I think she would be okay.
I rode her the next morning in a lesson and again, she was excellent. I rode her in the running gag which I haven't done in awhile, but she still stayed nice and soft and light in it. Did adds, and collected herself when I asked without throwing a hissy fit. We did have some interesting moments though-M raised the jumps a bit, probably up to around 3' which looked REALLY impressive to me coming to them the first time. I think Arwen sensed my hesitation and my awe at the size because she then proceeded to leap over them in her best reinactment of her days as a grand prix horse. First time through I got totally knocked lose from the tack, although I managed to stay on. Second time through was much better, mainly because Arwen realized it was old hat and realized it best to ignore the tense, eyeballs bulging out of her skull rider on her back. Afterwards, one of the juniors told me she overjumped those first two fences by about 2 ft, lol!
I also finally gave Arwen her bath in prep for a full body clip. Did it yesterday, since it was supposed to be the last semi warm, sunny day before the rain is forecasted to arrive. Oh man...she was fine in the barn after the bath but when I took her outside where it was slightly breezy, she turned into a total spook monter. Reared up on the lead line a couple times, and was bouncing around in place. She started shivering a bit, so I took her back to her stall to eat, and then over to the crossties where I started blow drying her. She got warm eventually, but I don't think the spook monster that took over when she was cold really went away. So I put her in the outdoor (since I didn't want her to roll in the dirt) to run around a little and OH BOY. I have never seen her buck so much! She was like a woman possessed. This makes me a little scared to actually go through with the clip because she will be cold a lot, due to being naked. I mean, it will grow back obviously but I might have to deal with a month or so of her being an idiot. Not sure if I want to do that. So I might just try clipping her face and her legs up a bit tonight instead, and deal with the sweaty furry mess she becomes (I think thats a decent trade off for a quiet horse) and when I have to, break out the blow dryer. We'll see. I still haven't made a decision yet.
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