If Wishes Were Horses....

I'd have a million horses! I wish for something every day. Rather it's wishing for no drama, wishing for a horse to behave, wishing for a pencil sharpener to work, or wishing for 5 more minutes of sleep, I wish almost every day! My definition of wishing? Wanting something to happen or change. So, if you want one of your friends to shut up and listen for once, that's a wish. :)

Yesterday, I went to Victory. I got there at about 6:30 p.m., or sometime close to there. ;) Now, recently I've been lunging - that's when you take a REALLY long rope and attach it to a horse's bridle and have them run in a circle around you, doing different gaits (walk, trot, canter, etc.) - Tarzan to get some pent-up energy out of him before I ride.

I had trouble with lunging. I lunged Tarzan his good way first, and that went PERFECT. His steps are still short and choppy, but that's just the way he is. He's beginning to understand that I am the leader and he is the follower, though. Anyways, Tarzan did goo when we went his good way. But then, we switched directions. :'( Tarzan got out into his little 'circle' thinggy that he runs and then he stopped, faced me, and walked into the middle. Now, when you lunge a horse, you use this thing called a lunge whip. It's this very long whip that you kind of swish behind the horse on the ground to make them speed up or keep going. Occasionally, you can lift the whip and bring it down on the ground to make a crack noise and get the horse going. Also, you occasionally can tap the whip on the horse's heels to keep it moving forward.

So when Tarzan walked into the middle, I turned him to the correct direction and whacked the lunge whip on the ground behind him. He trotted forwards a few steps, and then stopped, faced me, and came into the middle of the circle (this very much annoys me, and I WILL find a way to fix it. ;) ). So this time, I was more annoyed than the first time. I turned him to the correct direction and flicked the whip (gently) at Tarzan's heels. He burst into a trot, going in a circle but trotting sideways, with his head towards me and his butt towards the outside. I swished the whip on the ground behind Tarzan and clucked continuously. This didn't work very well; he soon came into the middle again. Now, I was REALLY mad. I clucked and did a little 'mock whip' at Tarzan's shoulder - all I did was raise the whip and whip the air where his shoulder would've been if he'd been standing closer - and Tarzan took off at a canter. But guess what? Yep, he was going the wrong way and part of the lunge line (that's what we call the long rope we use) was trailing around his feet. If I didn't get that lunge line wrapped up or away from his feet, he could get tangled up and could fall. I quickly wrapped up the lunge line and brought him into the middle. I spend several minutes calming myself and him so that I could try once more to get him on the right track.

Finally, Erica gets to Victory and comes inside. She goes to get Tommy, this huge Thoroughbred horse that she wants to ride. So she goes and gets him out of his stall and puts him in cross ties (I'll put a picture - I'm tired of explaining things) and brushes him. Tommy is a BSU professor's horse; the BSU professor went on a trip for a few months, so we are taking care of Tommy. Anyways, Erica saddles up Tommy.

I send Tarzan back to the rail; my patience is restored. I have Tarzan trot/canter around the arena twice, and then I bring him into the middle and unhook the lunge line. We're done lunging for the day. I took Tarzan back out into the aisle of the barn (the aisle next to his stall) and put him in cross-ties. I brushed him down and saddled up. I put on my helmet and went to the arena to ride him.

The ride was uneventful, pretty much. But we got a REALLY good thing out of the ride. Well, first you must understand that Erica was riding Tommy in the arena, too - and this is a TINY arena - and Tarzan isn't really good with other horses in the arena. Usually. But the REALLY good thing that I got out of the ride on Tarzan was that Tarzan did OK with Tommy in the arena with him! Tarzan barely even noticed Tommy, and Tommy barely noticed Tarzan. But Tommy not noticing Tarzan might be because Tommy is blind in one eye...sad, sad thing, when a horse is blind.

Anyways, after I rode Tarzan, Erica said I could ride Tommy if I wanted to. So I hopped on Tommy - and felt like I was on top of the WORLD! Tommy is so huge, you feel like you're hopping onto Taco (the pony!) after you get onto Tommy! I rode Tommy and had some trouble (I think my arms are short, and I need to strengthen my arm muscles & thy muscles), but I think all was well in the end. I rode back into town with Erica (Erica had Bible Study) and went home and then went to bed.

That was a wonderful day.

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Date of Ride: Wednesday, January 20, 2010

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Pictures of Equipment:

This is a lunge whip. It looks dangerous, but you aren't supposed to ever actually WHIP the horse's body with it. The most you're supposed to touch a horse with it is on their heels.

This is a lunge line. The lunge lines are VERY long, and are supposed to have a clip on one end to attach to the bridle. NEVER use a plain piece of rope as a lunge line; it is dangerous and could hurt you or the horse.

Look at the lunge line on this horse. The lunge line is almost on the ground, and that is VERY dangerous. At this point, if the person lunging that horse were to take a step forward or let a bit more lunge line through her grip, the horse would be able to step on the line and trip and/or fall. This is DANGEROUS; do NOT let the lunge line sag too much towards the ground.

That's about it! See ya'll later, folks!