Brave Mae

Wow. Can I just say that Mae was awesome yesterday? She had so many reasons to be spooky and jumpy (CRAZY wind, a stallion parading around at the neighboring barn, some scary rattling tarp, and a random herding dog who decided to chase us around the outdoor arena) and she was, for the most part, fine. I was half worried about taking her outside in the wind in the first place, but I'm sick of the little indoor and thought I'd go for it.

I was nervous at first. Mae is by no means flighty, but sometimes she gets to be a bit of a handful and definitely has some spirit. Add that to the fact that I grew up riding Arabs who would prance around on their dainty toes with every breeze, and pull that special type of spook where one second you have a horse under you and the next second she's halfway to Kansas and you're hovering midair like the Wile E. Coyote or something. (I love Arabs, and I LOVED my Arab. But she sure loved to spook.)

But she was fine. By the end of the ride I felt much more confident and I trusted her not to freak out on me. What a good girl.

After I cooled her down and fed her, I turned Mae out in the pasture with her favorite gelding buddy. She doesn't get out every day, so I was happy to see her outside. After I unclipped her lead and watched her canter away so she could eat grass with her buddy, I couldn't stop smiling. It's been a long, long time since I turned out a horse after a ride and watched her playing in the pasture. It brought back a lot of nice memories, I guess.