A very 'bumpy' ride!

It was a fairly hot summer's day and 'Jane', 'Lilian' and I were planning to take 'Rose', 'Luke' and 'Mr F' out for a ride/stroll. 'Lillian' was riding 'Luke', 'Jane was on 'Rose' and I was walking with 'Mr F'.

There were two reasons why I didn't ride 'Mr F' yet:

a) I hadn't yet developed enough of trust base between the two of us. There was more to be done. More about that later though.

b) I cannot ride. I rode for about 6 months as a teenager, on a well trained riding school pony. Now we are talking about an ex-racehorse ... which hadn't been used to hacking nor did he have his own tack.

We all got ready but 'Lillian' was not all that comfortable, which displays in her talking more than usual, a form of distraction. She was planning on riding 'Luke' who was still being accustomed to being ridden but he just isn't quite sure about it all.

'Luke' has been at 'Buttercup Farm' for just about a month, in a field with 'Mr F'. Since he arrived I noticed 'Luke' had changed a little, he was a bit more willing to partake in the worldly world, in other words: the world of us humans.

For some reason, the decision was made to go through the open fields behind 'Buttercup Farm'. I thought at the time that it wasn't exactly safe but went along. I mentioned it in an earlier post, 'Mr F' and I have spent some time getting used to and exploring the fields. 'Rose' however couldn't bare being in open fields. Hopefully she would be fine in company, that was the though anyway. I had no idea if 'Luke' would cope but that was 'Lillian's choice.

We got through the first field fine, me and 'Mr F' walking, the others riding.

When we entered the second field 'Jane' and I took a route along the edges of the field. 'Jane' was just about to suggest to 'Lillian' to remain near us,  when 'Luke' started bucking for no apparent reason. 'Lillian', not prepared for this because she was at that very moment occupied with something on the saddle, and so she came off, somewhat slowly. He didn't buck much actually, she would have had no problems staying on if she wouldn't have been fiddling around with some tack. I think it was her stirrup she wasn't happy about.
'Luke' by now was properly spooked, having just lost his rider. I am quite sure that horses do NOT like it when their rider falls off - they don't intend to harm us, but from their point of view its all they can do to deal with what bothers them. He ran for a few meters but realised he was on his own and in wild panic turned around and ran straight over 'Lillian' who was curled up on the ground in a fetal position, trying to protect herself as good as she could. 

'Jane' and 'I' were helplessly watching the hole thing. As all this was taking place I also noticed that 'Mr F' couldn't care less about the situation, he was as happy as could be, grazing the juicy grass on a not yet used field. 'Rose' was close to us and reasonably clam, but intently watching 'Luke'.

'Luke' then ran towards us, we just managed to dodge him as he pushed through between us. 'Mr F' finally deemed the situation serious enough to observe and watched with great interest what 'Luke' was up to next. Meanwhile 'Luke' continued with his frenzied charge and even slipped on the ground, half falling over. He then hid in a corner of the field under big trees and their overhanging branches. Staying put, he seemed to try and get his bearings together, I could see he was breathing heavily and his nostrils were wide open. If a leave would now fall on his back he'd be off like a rocket again ...

Meanwhile 'Lillian' managed to get up. Luckily she was not seriously injured but she will have some serious bruising. Clearly shaken up, she went to fetch 'Luke'. The two had a few minutes together to sort themselves out.

Meanwhile, 'Jane' and I were glad that nothing worse had happened. We were also very surprised just how little 'Rose' and 'Mr F' were bothered about it all.

'Lillian' decided to lead 'Luke' for a while until we would get onto the road. I have learnt, through reading and listening into conversations, that many horses find wide open fields quite frightening and they feel safer on a road where they know where they are going. Seems odd but I noticed that with 'Mr F' too. Only once he thought of me as someone that is trustworthy and ok to follow was he relaxed up in the open fields. I had been up in these fields with 'Mr F' alone many times and that is sure one of the reasons why he was so relaxed. It also stopped 'Rose' from going loopy which she would have done no doubt.

Once back on the road, 'Lillian' got back on 'Luke' who was still terrified and most unruly. I thought of 'Lillian' as brave to get back on. I had in the past  fallen off twice myself and indeed I had been told back then that I had to get straight back on otherwise I would always remain afraid.

The route back home went by without any further issues. We were pondering over what might have upset 'Luke'. We couldn't think of anything else but that he was perhaps bitten by a horse fly and was upset by it. Those irritating creatures were at the time present to the plenty!  Or perhaps it was the flapping of the stirrup leather.

Back at 'Buttercup Farm', 'Luke' had a lot to think about. He was clearly not happy with the events and could not understand what happened and was clearly out of sorts even back in the field. 

 '... I don't understand ... what do the humans want?'

'Mr F' keeping an eye on 'Luke'

'Lillian' on the other hand also will have a fair amount to think about, plus some big bruises to take home.

For me this was in a way perfectly timed: with all this pushing on for me to ride  It takes NOTHING at all for the horse to go 'boom'! All I could think of was: we have to be able to trust each other (horse and rider) else it's just not working. The trust level has to be balanced. Bravery has not much to do with it. From my point of view it seemed obvious that if I am not trusting 'Mr F' he'll know and in turn he won't feel safe. He'll see me as 'weak' (frightened) which to a horse means: flight!