[eskielover]

What a fun day yesterday was. A group of us got together at a friends farm & we rode her horses in her new covered arena. Thrill of the day was riding her Friesian stallion.

This was so exciting for me because the last time I rode another friend's Friesian gelding, our horses spooked & I came off in the middle of the alfalfa field & got a compression fracture in my back. I had gotten back on & rode a little after that, not knowing I had fractured my back & IT HURT to post at the trot only 4 months ago. Yesterday, there was no pain & I could ride like I always have been able to ride.

Well, got home after riding & lunch together with my group of friends & was working in the yard.....had a couple of my eskies out in the yard with me & just as the sun was setting, there right next to my driveway was a young black angus cow, moowing at us. My neighbor has cows & at first glance, I thought the cow was actually on his side of the fence.....but NO, it was on MY side of the fence.

I went in to get my phone book to find the phone number for my neighbor.....came out with my phone book & cell phone & called....NO ONE HOME . I started walking toward the cow & of course, it went out into the street & headed for their farm. I was so nervous about it being on the road & getting hit by a car so I decided to try to herd it up their long driveway & up to the gate of the field it had escaped from. However, when I went to open the gate, it decided to head back to their driveway & down toward the street. I walked back down the driveway & herded it back up the driveway.

By that time it was dark & the cow was BLACK. I thought it might have gone back to the gate area again, but it wasn't there......just then, my neighbors came home & I greeted them with the fact that they had an escape artist for a cow. They drove to the fence area & the cow wasn't there & they drove back into the other part of their farm & the cow wasn't there either but they closed the gates to that area just it case & planned on finding it in the morning.

They offered me a ride home (about 1/2 mile walk) after all my exercise of chasing their cow & a dark street that I didn't really want to walk on at night since I had my dark riding cloths still on. As they were heading down the road toward my farm, there was the cow. It had slipped past me in the dark when I was herding it back up the driveway & I didn't see it turn around & go back down the driveway.

The neighbor who drove me home parked his truck with the flashers on at the driveway across from my farm where they are leasing the land for another herd of cattle & with the other truck, started herding the cow into the gates.....while I stood at my farm to keep him from heading back down to where he had escaped from. Got the cow safely through the gates & into one of the holding pens until they could take it back to the herd today.

I had been noticing how they herd the cattle using their truck. It was so funny watching them move the cattle from one field to the next, following their big red truck as the may was making this strange calling noise. I couldn't figure out if it was a machine making the noise or if it was their voice. I have been wanting to ask them about the call they use for a long time.....so took the opportunity.

One uses an actual horn type of thing to make the noise but this man was actually uses his voice to make the very LOUD call....along with feed that comes from the truck to get the whole herd of them to follow. It's quite a sight & so different from the way my great uncle took care of his cows way back in the dark ages when I was 8 years old & visiting their farm in Nebraska.

Ah, the joys of living in the country....no better exercise than riding beautiful horses & herding a cow.....life couldn't be better.

What a mooooving experience.

[Omers]

Congrats on getting back on the Friesian!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am trying to get past my current riding phobia... I know my horse misses me but after one really bad experience (with another horse) it has been so hard. She really resents my fear because she didn't do it which doesn't help. Yes, I anthropomorphize my horse... but I think she eqinemorphizes me just as much :P

[eskielover]

Originally Posted by TheByzantine

What a mooooving experience.

LOL, the perfect reply....lol especially from TheByz.

[googley]

I'm glad you were able to get back on the horse and ride without pain. That experience of herding the cow sounds fun. When I visited a farm with a group of kids they had us take the job of the sheep dogs to try and herd the sheep. The sheep had us running in circles.

[eskielover]

Originally Posted by Omers

Congrats on getting back on the Friesian!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am trying to get past my current riding phobia... I know my horse misses me but after one really bad experience (with another horse) it has been so hard. She really resents my fear because she didn't do it which doesn't help. Yes, I anthropomorphize my horse... but I think she eqinemorphizes me just as much :P

I understand those riding phobias......after falling off a Friesian back in March & fracturing my back....it was a bit of a challenge deciding to get back on one & on top of that, a STALLION But this stallion was so mellow, we needed to use a crop to encourage the trot. A crop is another one of my riding phobias because my first dump off a horse back in my college equitation class was when the instructor told me to use my crop of the horse that was figiting around. I did & it bucked me over it's head, so using a crop is definitely a phobia. On top of that, he spooked when the sand hit the metal side of the arena when the lady before me was riding him. I was having second thoughts or maybe third thoughts as I got into the saddle. I definitely understand how hard it is to GET THROUGH those phobias. Sometimes I just shut off that area of my mind or I think I would never ride again after all the injuries I have had.

You are right in understanding how your horse feels.....horses definitely don't like not having a purpose.....she may not specifically be laying the blame of another horse unless she saw the accident.....but her feeling of knowing that SHE DIDN'T do anything to earn your fear & your not riding her could create a similar reaction.

I do believe that horses eqinemorphizes us. They look to us as their leaders & choose to follow us when we show ourselves as protective leaders......have you read the book Horses Never Lie by Mark Rashid.....it's the best book I have read on horses...one I can't put down. Best book on how to be the leader your horse selects, not the bully alpha horse that forces the position of leader out of fear.......great read.

[Omers]

I think I have read a different book by that author. My horse is a bully leader in the herd because she was bullied by humans from at least 2yrs-5+yrs old. I don't do the bully thing so sometimes it is hard for her to trust my leadership. Although... I did save her from the killer, horse eating chicken... that was locked securely in it's cage next to the arena.
Thankfully when she spooks she sits down (Yup, sits right on her butt). She gets that BIG ole quarter horse butt under her, puts her weight back there, tenses every muscle ready to bolt! She has always stopped long enough to think and discover there was no need to bolt... thank goodness!

[filensave]

I don't have anything to say other than that story made me smile

[eskielover]

Originally Posted by filensave

I don't have anything to say other than that story made me smile

That's good....most of the time my posts are about things that make me smile, so glad it makes others smile also.....nice to share the good things in life when they happen because heaven knows......so many times is all about the things that make us cry or keep us from smiling & being happy.

[eskielover]

Originally Posted by Omers

I think I have read a different book by that author. My horse is a bully leader in the herd because she was bullied by humans from at least 2yrs-5+yrs old. I don't do the bully thing so sometimes it is hard for her to trust my leadership. Although... I did save her from the killer, horse eating chicken... that was locked securely in it's cage next to the arena.
Thankfully when she spooks she sits down (Yup, sits right on her butt). She gets that BIG ole quarter horse butt under her, puts her weight back there, tenses every muscle ready to bolt! She has always stopped long enough to think and discover there was no need to bolt... thank goodness!

Wow, I like that.....sitting down rather than bolting.....I could really get into having a horse that reacts like that. That was what got me in March. I didn't know that Friesians only bolt long enough for them to feel a safe distance from what scared them then they stop & look at it......I held on for quite awhile after the bolt.....but then saw the huge alfalfa field in front of me & no feeling of stopping.....was afraid of the horse accelerating into the field, so I bailed & he stopped. Great timing.

[Omers]

OUCH! But... I would have done the same thing.
The other thing I did was get what I lovingly call a "legless draft". Mine is 13.3 hands... and in a draft saddle.
I like to keep the ground close!

[eskielover]

Ah yes, the wide bodied short legged quarter horse......they definitely are a nice ride & definitely close to the ground. These Friesians use semi draft saddles....they are definitely wide bodied also....just NOT SHORT.

When I first started to ride again at the age of 42, I thought my TB gelding was tall at 15.3. I felt intimidated getting on taller horses to ride. Strange, since I moved here & have been riding so many different horses, riding the 17+ horses feel comfortable....getting me ready for when I finally get my filly moved here. She is Salle Francais TB & is around 17.3.

I never rode a gaited horse before I moved here. They are interesting to ride & nice & smooth, but I still love posting & the canter is my favorite gait.

I was surprised that I felt more comfortable on the large Friesian stallion than I did on the gaited smaller horse.....but those wide horses really are hard on the legs while getting used to them.

[lizardlady]

Originally Posted by Omers

OUCH! But... I would have done the same thing.
The other thing I did was get what I lovingly call a "legless draft". Mine is 13.3 hands... and in a draft saddle.
I like to keep the ground close!

"Legless draft" I love it! Have owned a couple of those in my time! Perfect description!

[lizardlady]

Eskie, I love the story of herding the cow. It brought back memories of when I lived in a place that backed up to a dairy farm. Used to get free entertainment watching the guys who worked there try to herd the cows on foot.

[lizardlady]

Omar and Eskie, hang in there in overcoming your fears. Good for you for facing them. I got bucked off my 16.3 TB gelding a year ago and broke my collar bone. It was four months before the doc would let me climb back on. I was scared spitless that he might buck me off again. He's big boy who can buck like a rodeo bronc. I've never been afraid of a horse before. All my life my attitude was that if I could get a leg over it's back I could ride it. I rode horses no one else wanted to get on. It was a strange feeling to be afraid of this guy. It took time. I took lots of precautions to be sure he was nice and quiet before I climbed on him. It's taken time but last week when I was riding him he objected to something and bucked. I sat deep, made him keep his head up and smacked him with the crop. If I can do it so can both of you!

[radio_flyer]

I don't have any phobias with riding horses. I don't even know how to stay on them as I I tend to just fall off. And the horses aren't even running.. Just walking and not even fast and off i go...And you don't want to see me trying to even get on one and yes, i've no sooner made it on to slide off the other side...

I was walking a huge horse that was blind in one eye.. Guess I was walking on his blind side and he stepped on my foot.. OMG, talk about pain.... My foot was black and blue for weeks...

Riding horses and chasing cows.... What a day! Country living can be cool...