Over the summer, I played more with Fell Pony Harcala and a little with my Gypsy Cob, India. We had a “breakout” that I think would be much more humorous from Michelle, but I want to share my interpretation of events. Several weeks after we arrived, I woke to find the fences trashed and my kids gone. The fences had been trashed by roughhousing among the horses. My girl is a total LBI (A natural horsemanship term), and is completely guided by food, or so I thought. Did she stop at her breakfast which was waiting just outside her paddock? No. Did she stop at any number of the grassy areas? No. Did she stop at the roundbale? Nope, she didn't stop at all... they just left. Through the forest and down the never-ending dirt roads.
Michelle was the one who found them. Her description of the experience was to say the least, humorous. I'll ask her to get that out for you. But since then I have had several re-interpretations of what may have happened. Initially, I laughed at the description of hoofprints heading down a dirt road for many yards, then shuffling about and heading back to the intersection before heading down another. I could imagine India, my LBI, following Harcala (LBE), the mastermind of this breakout... which was more like a walkout, probably looked like he knew exactly where he was going, even with every about-face he made. I imagined India dragging her feathered feet (Gypsy cob, remember) and mumbling under her breath. And I laughed greatly over these made-up observations. But since then, I wondered if she were really the leader in this escapade. It may take a lot more calories than I ever thought she would use, but as I read more about LBI's, I think this might be just her thing. And I know Harcala would follow her. He might be in front, but he would be following her. Who knows what they were thinking, or what the goal was? I still think about it from time to time when I am thinking about some other horse psychology thing.
Michelle said they did both look relieved when she found them.
Recently, we took Harcala out on the trail with me on him, still being ponied by Michelle and Babe. There were a couple of interesting aspects to that trailride. One was that I tried to just be a passenger on Harcala and that was difficult for me. We went quite a ways and Harcala was fine, showing no problems. However, Michelle was ponying another horse on the other side of Babe, a 2 year old gelding from Babe's paddock. Babe is the alpha in that group and the youngster was really being a twerp to Babe, harassing him, nipping him here and there. Harcala didn't purposely bother Babe, but he did block one side, with Avalo on the other. Towards the end of the ride we noticed Babe was sticking his tongue out, something we had never seen before. We attributed it to anxiety that had no other expression. We went home and put everybody away, and Babe went out the next day alone with Michelle and had no tongue issues.
Harcala was in great spirits and I felt very safe on him. Unfortunately with weather and other time delays, he hasn't been out since. India has been out for two trailrides being ponied. On the first one, we took Harcala along and on the second one, we took somebody else with her. She was clearly much less crabby, easier to deal with, and more interested in her experience during the second one than the first. Lesson learned and note to self: India is not ready to trek with Harcala, however, she will be in the future. My goal is to ride one and pony the other often to be able to get both my kids out.
We started trailriding the sale horses regularly, along with the groundwork and another day devoted to riding work. The horses were getting out 5 days a week, and it really showed. It really showed on me, as well. The more time I spend with horses on the ground or on their back, the closer I get to my potential as a horseman.
More to come... part four.
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