After about 3 weeks of leasing Wonder, my sister came into town for a visit. I asked Sherry if she had an extra horse I could ride so Heather and I could go riding together. She said we were welcome to try out a new paint mare that had just arrived at the barn. Long story short, that mare was Sadie and when I got on her it was instant love.
Me and Wonder on the trail, such a good boy!
My very first time on Sadie
Fast forward to about a week after I bought Sadie... I headed out for one of my first early morning trail rides on my brand new mare. I knew I had to be a bit more cautious on Sadie because unlike Wonder, she had a lot of go and still wasn't completely comfortable on the busy canal trail we rode on. There were bridges to cross, runners and bikes passing us, cars on the road. I loved it though, as much as I loved Wonder, Sadie was a lot more challenging and fun to ride.
We were off to a good start, we successfully passed the donkey that loved to charge at the fence to scare horses, we had crossed the bridge with no issues and were almost to the turnaround point to head back to the barn. As we moved down the trail I noticed Sadie seemed to be favoring her left front leg a bit. A couple more steps and I decided I better further investigate, she may have a rock in her hoof. I swung off her and was just about to kneel down and lift her foot when she turned her head to look at me and made direct eye contact. It was just a split second, but it was like slow motion. I thought "Sadie, don't do it". She and I both knew I hadn't properly secured the reins and she made the split second decision that she was going to take advantage. Before I could react she was off, full speed ahead down the canal.
I just stood there in shock watching my most prized possession running down the busy city canal, to add insult to injury my saddle pack was still attached and carried my car keys and my cell phone. Just as I was worrying that Sadie may not even know the way home to her fairly new barn I saw her approaching the bridge we had so nicely crossed earlier. To my horror Sadie did not take the same caution going back and as soon as her feet hit the concrete she fell down and disappeared into a giant cloud of dust.
Thankfully, moments later I saw her safely running towards the barn on the other side of the bridge. Now even more panicked not knowing if she was injured, the only bright spot was my saddle pack had fallen off when she wiped out. I promptly called my Mom in tears, I had made a huge mistake and had bought a crazy horse that may or may not be injured and may or may not find her way back to the barn. As my Mom was calming me down, I got a call from Sherry on the other line. Her neighbor had called to wake her when they found Sadie, and of course she imagined I had gotten dumped on the trail somewhere. It was humiliating to admit what had actually happened and even more humiliating to face all of the worried neighbors who had gathered first thing in the morning to see what all the excitement on their usually quiet street was. Sherry could not have been nicer, reassuring me "it has happened to all of us" she helped me gather my now calm (only slightly banged up) horse chomping on the neighbor's grass. Still pretty shook up I asked Sherry what I should do, maybe I should sell her, I was in over my head. She said, don't give up on her yet "I'd go lunge the s*&t out of her!" It was obvious, but it still stung to hear the truth, Sadie had no respect for me! I had to start from scratch and earn it.
The next few weeks were spent in the round pen, as I learned different exercises and Sadie slowly began to respect me. We still had a lot of work to do in the saddle, and that is where our trainer Jess came in, but that's a story for another day...
One of our many sessions in the round pen
After a successful day of work, it's the best feeling to make progress and build that bond
We've come a long way :)
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