back to school, back to school.

I made the arrangements. George is going to the trainer on Saturday. Not sure how long he is going to be staying at said trainer as we are going to play it by ear. The trainer mostly works with Off Track TBs so I thinking this will be a good place for him. I told her all about George, and she is actually excited to meet him.

I had wanted to send George to the trainer last year. But the timing never seemed right. And the handful of times I actually rode him, he was fine. Clearly, Sunday’s incident was all rider error. I was able to stay on even after losing both of my stirrups, and through his bucking, dancing, cantering whatever the f he was doing, but I chose to bail because I was freaking out. Which clearly isn’t something that you should do. But I did it anyways, even though I knew better.  Generally that first ride of the year is not a good one for me. I wish I could have put my first ride on Pistol, but he’s been pretty wheezy since the weather warmed back up. I didn’t want to ride down the road. I wanted to putz around the yard or pasture to get my nerves worked out, and get the horses spring wiggles out. But we made the decision to go down the road. It started out well enough, but Duke started acting up, like he does, and then that threw gas on George’s fire to be a racehorse again. Last fall Duke acted up like he does (in almost the exact same spot), and George was fine. He was borderline perfect. When I stopped him so Duke could get over his demons, George just stood there like a statue. But it is spring. I hate spring riding. I shouldn’t have been out there.

With all of that being said, it really must sound like I don’t ever like to ride. That is completely false. I love riding. But I am one of those types of people that prefers working in the arena. I love taking lessons. I love showing (but hate grooming so showing isn’t really in the stars for me). I love clinics. But I am not a huge fan of trail riding. I do it because that is what people from around here do. I do enjoy it from time to time, but I do get nervous because my brain plays out so many scenarios of things that can go wrong.  If I’m on the right horse like Pistol or Piney (god I miss that horse) I can feel pretty comfortable out on the trail. But given an unfamiliar horse, it’s not so easy for my brain to shut down and enjoy the ride. I really need to go to one of those fear clinics I think. Yep, I will be looking to that.

I am feeling pretty crappy that I am sending George to the trainer. I feel like I am taking the easy way out. But I need to remind myself, that lots of people send their horses to the trainer. Or have a trainer that comes and works with their horses. With Piney I was boarding so I had access to trainers, lessons, an arena, and a whole slew of people to ride with and help me. Now I am basically on my own. I’m lucky that my first few rides on George went so smoothly considering we were basically just out there in the open on him. So I really need to stop being so damn hard on myself for sending him to a trainer. I don’t have the tools needed to train him and if anything I am just going to ruin him.

Ugh, my brain is awfully mean to me.