We got very wet.

1 January 2002

Mouse and I are, as of today, officially, a grownup-riding-from-the-gate-team... 

We even managed the short stretch that goes along the really wide verge under the trees opposite Wendi’s house by going *forwards*, instead of having to do it backwards and sideways and around in circles (the previous 4 days efforts).

SUM UP:

Day 1

Mouse is dressed up in crupper and rump rug (a first).

Lucy hand-walks Mouse 1.25 miles and rides 0.25 mile.

We have to stop and get off 10 yards from our gate when Mouse spots an eye-plucking tree stump in a neighbouring paddock and starts to make whale-spouting noises at it. 

Lucy gets on and off five times for various reasons (mostly related to fear, but some related to tack adjustment). We are not eaten by the bulldozer at the end of the dirt lane to the top barn.

Day 2

The rain has subsided somewhat. Lucy’s saddle is still sodden from the previous day, so she steals pft’s saddle. Mouse is dressed solely in the crupper.

Lucy hand-walks Mouse 0.5 mile and rides 1 mile.

We have to stop 100 yards along the road when the crupper proves to be so loose that it falls off the bottom of her tail.

Lucy has to get on and off 8 times - mostly related to cars coming along the lane (much less fear induced, more caution).

Lucy thinks up the bright idea of letting Mouse graze at the top barn where she is most uneasy, thereby making it a "pleasant experience".

Lucy discovers that that stupid mincing short-strided gait, with the tossy head, the leaping around, and the running backwards on the way home (escalating the closer we get) is Mouse’s attempt at "jigging home".

Day 3

Lucy hand-walks 5% of the 1.5 mile journey and rides 95% of it. 

It is raining hard again, so we’re back in Lucy’s saddle (and waterproof trousis as protection against the sodden sheepskin cover) with the rump rug and crupper.

Lucy only gets off a couple of times.

Lucy discovers that she can deal with Mouse’s naughtiness by turning her backwards (which stops the behaviour immediately - so I can sort of work on an advance/retreat technique. When I start to get scared, I can turn her backwards, sit quietly for a minute or so, think "Pixie Dust" and "soft hands" and turn her around again for the next leaping, bounding advance).

Lucy thinks she sees a correlation between uptight, rein-clutching hands and bad behaviour. Lucy tries very hard to keep soft hands, sitting deep and not letting things get out of control.

Day 4

Lucy hand-walks 5% of the 1.5 mile journey and rides 95% of it.

It isn’t raining... well, barely, anyway. We're back in pft’s saddle. The stirrups are too long, and the crupper nearly falls off her tail again. I fix the crupper while still sitting in the saddle while she's grazing. Decide not to bother with the stirrups (they seemed OK on Day 2... my legs must have shrunk from the rain).

Lucy only gets off once, when we meet the next door neighbour’s trash bin in the lane simultaneously as a dually truck comes along. Lucy opts for the cautious route and hops off (just in case the bin decides to attack while the truck is passing).

We manage the whole of the mile (there and back) lane to the top barn without having to resort to any stupidity. Lucy feels competent and in control.

Unfortunately, we still have to do the section opposite Wendi’s house by going backwards mostly, but we are making some progress.

Day 5

It isn’t raining!!!!

Lucy decides to add an extra mile to the journey and rides 98% of the entire 2.5 mile trip.

It starts badly when Chili decides to follow us down to the gate and arrives about the same time that a quiet couple go past with their dog. She barks. I shout at her and throw rocks in her direction (I'm in the lane, she's on our property), suggesting that she go back up to the house. She retreats and sits. I figure she does go back, because she doesn't follow us. I think about invisible fence collars.

We have to flounder about next to the road when two cars pass. Mouse isn’t perfect, but she doesn't run backwards into the path of the cars (Day 1’s effort).

Mouse and I continue. We walk carefully along the lane (a section that she has only done twice before, a year ago). We aren’t eaten by tree stumps or the "Pavement Ends" sign. We also aren’t eaten by the possy of killer mail boxes, accompanied by their henchmen, the stand of trash bins. Luckily, someone has thrown down some carrots (for the deer?) next to the bins, so Mouse hits the jackpot and scarfs the lot. "Luckily" because five more cars pass (wha?), including a truck that is filled with (apparently) broken glass and metal ballbearings (along the bumpy road). Mouse is marginally startled, but only long enough to raise her head briefly from the carrots.

We return along the lane, encountering three more cars (mental note, don’t ride along the lane on a Holiday). Mouse attempts to prance a bit, jumps around a bit, but gives up and manages the second half of this section in a straight and true manner.

We continue past Wendi’s house to the Lacey’s barn. There is a scarey man bouncing a basketball in the barn doorway... luckily he doesn’t attack - although Mouse waits for me to take my hand off the rein to wipe my soggy nose before spooking forwards in a flurry.

Astonishingly, we manage the section past Wendi’s house in a forwardly direction. Mouse walks like an adult. I don't have to mentally locate all the trees in anticipation of reversing into one or being swept off by a branch.

We manage to go down the short pavement steep hill with only one untoward leap.

We manage to ride the entire mile (there and back) to the top barn, with a minute bit of trotting thrown in (while I block out the memory of how Mouse only started her bucking bronco impersonation *after* I asked for the trot, where she'd been fine at the walk). The crupper does not cause her to turn into a rodeo horse... nor does it fall off her tail. She does not spook at the other horses, killer trees stumps, bulldozer, trickling water, metal pipes or the geese.

We even TROT ON THE WAY HOME (ok, only for 20' or so, but it was while we were POINTING TOWARDS HOME). Mouse walks the entire thing like an adult. No prancing. No leaping. No snippy gait.

Yay! We have arrived!!