This weekend
Jett’s owner, S, invited me out for a ride. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I
debated on who to ride. With the
temperatures soaring, I knew I couldn’t ride Rain and I wanted to give Zeke
some time off. I really needed to ride Chaos, Maverick, or King. I figured we’d
be riding some roads, so that eliminated King. So it was between Chaos and
Maverick. I figured I’d better ride Maverick since I hadn’t ridden him in
ages. Oh sure, we did some ground work
the other day but no serious riding.
So I grabbed
Maverick and headed over. Silly me, I almost ran out of gas. I need to start
carrying a few gallons of gas just in case. Thank goodness for friends!! They
filled my tank up enough so there was no worry about running out of gas on my
way back to the gas station after our ride. You’d think after
almost 10 years of owning that truck that I would know better. Twice in the
past year I’ve had that darn gas light come on. Knock on wood that I’ve been
lucky.
But back to
the ride. Jett is coming along nicely. We had a beautiful ride and the horses
handled themselves amazingly well considering we had a dog come charging out to
the end of the driveway and barking at us, deer jumping out of a grove of trees,
and traffic (luckily the traffic was really patient and didn’t try to fly past
us. I was very surprised.)
I wasn’t
sure how well Maverick would behave himself but he did amazingly well. The only
thing I did was try to be a social butterfly and whinny to horses that he saw
along the way. Otherwise, he was a perfect gentleman. He really is a good trail
horse. I’m doing him such an injustice by not riding him more. Hopefully this
month I’ll be able to sneak in a few more rides.
We rode to a
place I’ never been before. It was so relaxing and enjoyable. Normally I’m a
nervous wreck but Maverick kept at an easy pace and we just wandered along.
When it was time to head back, Jett picked up the pace, but Maverick, well, he
apparently had no sense of direction because he didn’t pick up the pace when we
turned around. In fact, he started walking slower. Crazy gelding. Considering I’ve
been on him maybe a half dozen times this year (and it’s already July),
Maverick was outstanding.
Jett was
amazing as well. He had a bit of a different opinion on leaving the place, but
after a mile of working with him, he headed on down the road like he was an old
pro instead of just learning. Jett’s owner has done an amazing job with him. I
wish that every horse would have the opportunity to have such an education.
I personally
can’t train a horse. Oh I know, we are always “training” but to teach a horse
to be ride able is beyond my abilities. So I commend those that can. I simply
am not a good teacher. From what I’ve
learned about Jett’s daddy, I’m thinking that Jett may have a bit of an ornery
streak in him like his daddy. But he does have a soft side to him like his
momma, Savanna. I didn’t get any pictures of our ride, but I’ll have to go and
get some pictures of Jett so you can see how he’s progressing.
Given time,
patience, and proper education, horses like Maverick and Jett can go a long
way. I look forward to watching Jett and see how his education progresses. And
for Maverick, I’d really like to see what more he has. He has a lot of
potentially that I haven’t tapped in to yet. He makes a fantastic trail horse
but I know there’s more than he can do and he has a mind that’s sharp as a
tack. It would be nice to engage that mind of his and get him to start
thinking. We’ll see how things progress. Anyone have any cattle they’d let us
play with? I think Maverick might be cow-y.
