diaryofarider

So last night Trudi tried to remodel the barn. Apparantly she's been watching too much HGTV and felt like she needed to open up a wall to create a sense of space.
A medium sized plastic bag (interestingly, with a picture of a carrot on it) got picked up by the wind, skittered down the aisle, and was briefly interrupted by Trudi's legs. I had been trying to trim her tail and was at the wrong end to try and avert disaster- I saw her hindquarters looming and and couldn't do anything but try not to get trampled. I could see her almost sitting down, straining, snorting, and the bag rustling. I tried to tell her to whoa, but she was in panic mode and totally oblivious. I knew something was going to break and figured it would be her halter. Once she freed herself she spun around and went for the open door- I put a hand on her neck and she stopped for a second, and then the bag skittered some more and out the door she went.
I noted the beam on the floor and at first thought she had somehow managed to pull down a piece of the ceiling, but I had to catch her and just went for her lead rope. She was right outside stopped next to some horses in their pen, and I put the rope around her neck and tried to lead her back in. She stopped at the threshold to the aisle and I couldn't do much besides curse some more and I managed to lead her to her pen. I went back for her bridle and surveyed the damage- she had pulled the beam from the wall- pulled it right out even though it was screwed in with several screws. I put the beam off to the side, secured the door of that horse's stall, and called Val, who came out later and was able to reattach it. I found out later that even though Trudi had pulled the beam off the wall, she had not broken her halter or either crosstie. Crazy.
Went back and put Trudi's bridle on, and it was good that I had forced time away from her because I was really wanting to beat her to death. We had a session with the bag for about an hour and a half, and I was able to touch her with it and kick it in front of me as I led her around, but I still wouldn't consider her despooked. GAH, WHY do we ride prey animals again? I think tigers would be easier. Sure, they might chew off a limb, but I bet they're not scared of plastic bags.
Had a very good ride after all this- Trudi was in love with a little gelding working in the arena- it's the first horse I've seen her really take a shine to. I'm still fighting with my position, but I managed to get out of my chair seat for a while and did some sitting trot without stirrups and felt like she had some great cadence- I would feel her hind legs come up under me, and then carry me along on these big, smooth, floaty steps. Took the stirrups back and it was hard but we still had some good steps.
I removed another goat's-worth of hair from her, and she's still insanely fuzzy. Beavers don't have coats this thick. She's not going to be slick and pretty for the clinic, but that's life.