Hooligan!

So yeah... Danny was quite the hooligan today! It was cool and crisp and windy and he had friends to impress! I was supposed to meet Kelli and Arwyn and Peri and Tess for a ride but walked out to another flat tire!! This was the 2nd one in 3 days! Ugh.... I was so frustrated! So after fighting with it for 20 minutes thinking I would change it, I opted to just call Peri and see if she'd come get me. So she did. And of course Fleck was pissy. :( 

But we got to Ashland and got tacked up. Danny was already fairly "up" because of the wind and noises he was hearing in the distance. And Tess was in raging heat and kept winking and squirting at Dan. So I got on after the typical in hand work of yielding both hindquarters and backing up. He didn't want to stand and I was making him, so he got fussy. He was doing the giant aggressive pawing and fussing. So I let him walk around and asked him to walk over the log in the parking lot and he did. Then suddenly he yanked his head down and went to bucking and rearing. It only lasted about 10 seconds but when he reared up, it felt like his hind end didn't hold up. I don't know if he just collapsed a bit or hit a hole, but he buckled slightly. And twisted. And hopped. So I ended up hovering above him with one foot out of the stirrup. I calculated it and tried to tough it out for a few seconds but then decided that I was probably just enough out of balance that it would be best to dismount. So I did. It was awesome. I literally just dismounted and landed on my feet, balanced, with the reins still in my hands. Then I grabbed the whip, which I had dropped, and smacked Dan with it. Unfortunately I picked up the wrong end and broke it. Sigh. But Dan stopped being a fool. So I got back on him and we went to work... walking, trotting a small circle and finally Kelli was on and we could take off. He was quite bouncy at first and jumped a few times. He let out a few hops and jumps. But we kept it together. We even trotted a bit after he let out a breath and he wasn't power trotting away. 

Then we saw a deer and he hit the brakes hard. But fair enough. He started to be a little less brave then so Peri took the lead. And then we trotted again. Or attempted. ;) She was trotting. Danny and I were cantering... in place! He just wouldn't go forward. It was like he was mad about being behind and wanted to catch up but he was literally cantering higher than he was cantering forward. Sigh.. Goof! I did manage to finally get him moving in a canter and then a trot. 

We ended up by the lake and I let him in. He pawed and pawed and pawed and I finally got him out so we could carry on our way. He turned nutty then again and leapt a few times and I had to do some serious focusing work. I almost think he was refusing to leave the lake. Oh well. We managed to carry on. And then Peri wanted a canter in the field. So Kelli and I hung out and he managed to keep it mostly together. Then Kelli went and he kept it together. So then, since I had back up... I decided to give it a shot. I wasn't entirely dumb and circled around the two of them rather than just taking off, but we trotted. And then cantered. And it was the slowest laziest canter ever. I think I even said "Well this is no fun"! Hee hee. Not true, it was fun. But I was sort of expecting chaos. I thought very briefly about letting him out a bit up the hill but decided to be smart. So we pulled up (very politely!) and walked back to the trailers. 

It was a good day despite the antics. He definitely needs more group riding. :)