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| Subject: Trust, Lily, Lady | |
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Author: Travis |
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Date Posted: 18:52:10 01/17/03 Fri *Travis goes down to the barn and gets his new stallion out of his stall. The 14.3hh arabian walks flashily out of his stall and Travis smiles. The horse had picture-prefect conformation. He grooms him and tacks him up with an english saddle, a black saddle pad and a happy mouth snaffle. Then he leads him to the ring and mounts him. Trust shifts nervously and tosses his head, unsure of the new tack. Travis walks him around the ring calmly, then asks him for a trot. The stallion moves into a western jog and Travis pushes him into a working trot. Trust slows every few strides, completely unsure of what to do. after awhile of trotting, he understands to go forward. Once he is relaxed at the trot, Travis asks him to canter. The horse moves into a 4-beat lope and Travis gives him a gentle kick and asks him to canter. Trust breaks into a canter, then slows to a 4-beat again and Travis keeps insisting that he canter, and praises him when he does. then Travis works in the other direction a little before he cools him out and takes care of him. After Trust, he rides Lady. He jumps the pretty dun thoroughbred mare over a 3'6 course and she clears all the fences easily. In the past few weeks, they had been having problems with her refusing and running out and Travis had spent more time than usual in the dirt after some more violent refusals. Saddle had threatened to sell the mare if she didnt start to behave, so Travis had been working extra hard on their jumping. His hard work paid off and now she was jumping like she normally did. Once he is finished with lady, he goes into Lily's stall. The mare takes one look at him, spins squeals and kicks, catching Travis squarely in the ribs with her hind feet. Travis quickly jumps out of the stall door and shuts it tightly. Saddle walks up behind him. "prefect timing, Lily" he mutters. "Is everything ok?" Saddle asks. Travis takes a few deep breaths and winces with each one. "Yeah" he wheezes. "No its not, what happened?" Saddle asks worridly. "oh, she just kicked out and caught me in the ribs, no big deal" Travis replies, still breathless from the kick. "Well, lets see it" Saddle tells him. Travis slowly rolls his shirt and jacket up, showing his ribs. "Your already bruising, are you sure your ok?" Saddle asks. "Yah, i'm fine" Travis replies. "If your sure" Saddle replies, completely unconvinced. "Yeah, i'm sure" Travis replies. "Next time that mare does anything like that, shes gone, Travis, i'm sorry but if shes going to keep hurting you shes going to have to go" Saddle tells him. "This is the first time" Travis protests. "No its not, your arms are always bruised from her biting you" Saddle tells him. Travis shrugs "Well, shes never kicked out before" Travis replies. "Ok, if you say so" Saddle replies, "But next time she kicks you, shes gone. Understand?" Saddle tells him firmly. Travis nods and Saddle walks away. Travis stands at Lily's stall door. "Maybe i took the wrong approach with you, Lily." He starts to tell the mare. she flicks an ear at him. Travis starts talking again. "Mom wants to sell you now, and maybe its my fault. Maybe we should start again and i should take things more slowly with you, let you get comfortable with me more before i start trying to teach you." Lily turns around to look at him curiously. "Hmm, your interested in what i have to say, huh? Well, maybe i should talk to you more" Travis tells her. she takes a timid step towards him. Travis keeps talking to her and she slowly steps closer to him. Soon she is only a few feet back from the stall door. She stretches out her nose and softly breathes on his face. Travis stays perfectly still, amazed. After a few minutes she takes another step and he gives her a sugar cube. She takes it from his hand, then causually turns away and goes to eat her hay. Travis smiles and walks away, happy to finally be making some sort of progress with the nervous mare. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |