A Case of Mistaken Identity...?

"Its a bear! Its a wolf! A dear maybe.... one of those horse eating bike things ? Ohhhh wait no just Ace... are you okay mom?..." That would be my interpretation of what went through Rio's head this morning as he spun around with out warning, side passed and backed half way across the ring and decided to continue his 90mile an hour pirouette with me shouting in his ear to knock it off. I could see that kind of reaction to a bear or a dear, which yes we do see around our neighborhood, but another horse that lives 2 stalls down from him... one that he saw leave on his trail ride & knew would be back at some point really.... really Rio???

When this happened we'd just finished a short ride. I spent 45 minutes actively pushing the darn horse around the ring trying to make him extend his trot and pick up his feet.... its hot and he's had 3 weeks off so I wasn't too upset at his laziness. I was thinking to myself just how ineffective and crappy my seat an legs are right now and that I needed to get to the gym  and back in the saddle on a more regular basis as I pulled my feet out of the stirrups to stretch my sore muscles and gave him a free rein to cool out... big mistake to let my guard down! I'm relatively amazed that I didn't eat dirt given how much my legs would have liked to have been jello at that point on top of not having stirrups.  In fact despite Debby's interpretation that I was hanging on for deal life I actually felt pretty secure up there which was equally amazing given how little I've been riding lately... Just think what I could do if I actually made the effort to get in shape and take a few lessons?

I would love it if Rio would rein back, half pass and pirouette in a controlled setting, but I think we'll avoid this scenario  if we can the next time around!

Just one of those days I guess!....