This is the horse I rode/worked with yesterday, his name is Jonesy, and he has lots of spirit.
In the picture, you may notice that we are a little wet.
That would be because he laid down with me in the pond.
We always ride the horses into the pond while trail-riding because it is good for their hooves, and their legs, and so I went out there with Jonesy, and he kept walking further in, until the water was nearly up to his belly, then he kept splashing, and they're me, thinking---oh, he's just cooling off his belly.
Then he flopped down onto his side. On purpose, the little bugger! :)
I had to climb out from under him, and get him to stand. Then I led him out of there, wet up to my hips, with my boots full of mud and water. I had to take them off to drain them out! Meanwhile Miss Terre is laughing, and cursing herself for not getting a picture. It took me a while to get back on, because the saddle I was riding was English, and my boots were so muddy that I couldn't get up on up Jonesy's 16-something-hands self!
Want to know what else Jonesy likes to do?
Buck.
That little bugger bucked and fussed for a good part of the ride, mostly whenever I encouraged him to pick up his hooves and move. He's not ridden nearly as often as the other horses, mostly for this reason, so I'm thinking he could be worked through it. But after the trail-riders I was helping take out (there was five of them this time) left, and I cleaned out my boots a bit and got dry socks, and helped unsaddle the other horses, I went out into a different field with Jonesy, and he was really something. He was all over the place, refusing to pick up into a trot until I fought him for quite sometime, making him do circles---because he wouldn't go forward half the time. And I never could get him to canter.
There were only a few good big bucks that unsteadied me at all, the rest were just powerful enough for me to have to correct him fiercely enough to make him stop, which made out progress very difficult. But like I said, I think he can be worked through this. I do not consider him, like Miss Terre, to be a problem horse. He's just a big stubborn thing, but he really is a good boy.
Miss Terre actually offered to give him to me, because she's having a hard time feeding all of her horses for money reasons. It's very expensive, because there just isn't enough graze out in her fields. They all get hay, and a mix of two different feeds (sweet feed, and pellets of alfalfa, I think, though I may be mistaken). I'd just have to pay for feed and board, but he'd be mine, (leased to me for 99 years, because apparently she cannot actually quote: "sell" him.)
I don't think that's going to work---especially not yet. Maybe by next year, if we having fencing out here (so I wouldn't have to board or pay as much for feed, once he adjusted to grazing) I could get him. I'd also like to see if it's possible for him to be worked through his bucking issue.
And see if I can make it any easier to catch him to put his halter on. He trotted the whole length of the indoor stable back and forth several times before I finally went all horse-whisperer and was able to approach him.
Miss Terre has another trail-ride booked for 2:00 in the afternoon today, so I'll be going up there around 1:00 to help out again, and I may just see if I can ride him again. In a Western saddle, so I'd be able to hang on a little better!
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