One of THOSE Kinds of Rides

Jetta has had almost 2 weeks off - due to my family being in town over Thanksgiving.  However, the Sunday before, we had one of THOSE rides.  You know, where everything starts off well and then BAM!  All of a sudden you're sitting on what feels like a 3-ton powder keg about to blow. 

That Sunday morning started off really well.  I had ridden the day before, a nice and quiet mostly walk ride on the trails.  It was my weekend to work, so I was the one to feed and turnout.  I really anticipated another walk ride, mainly because 2 of the gals I was going with are VERY insecure riders.  Typically if I think we're going to do any adequate amount of trot or ANY canter whatsoever, I will give Jetta a gram of bute that morning (per vet's orders).  Since I was so sure (lolz!) that we'd only be walking, I skipped it.

Here she is, all dressed and ready to go:

So, off we go.  All 4 of us, at a nice, relaxing walk.  I should've known that it was going to be one of "those" rides when Jetta squirted forward, spooking at nothing, a mere 60 seconds into the ride.    Things seemed to settle, with a couple more "what's that?!?!" looks and another squirt forward.  That's when the person in front (my very competent BO) decided we should trot some.  Ok, no problem.  Except that the gal right behind me has absolutely no strength, and her horse knows it and takes complete advantage of it (I personally think she shouldn't be riding at all, but hey it's her life, right?).  So, we all start off at a nice trot, when all of a sudden the horse behind me passes us and proceeds to trot on off in front of all of us.  All the while the rider is terrified and yelling "stop, stop, stop!"  I should mention here...Jetta's sole purpose in each and every ride is to get in front.  I should also mention that she HATES when other horses pass her.  HATES IT.  So, I was already on a horse that was spooking at non-existent things, and now a horse has passed her, at a faster rate, and has kept going.  That certainly made the ride more interesting.  At least it's comfortable to ride...except for the part where you're a bit afraid to move your seat even a little bet lest she thinks that's the cue to RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN.

We get things under control, well the other 3 do, and I've got Jetta wound in as much as I can (and she's wound as tight as she's ever been).  The 2 tentative riders are in front, keeping their horses at the s l o  w   e  s  t  walk EVER.  Yea, that doesn't sit well with the powder keg in between my legs.  At this point, my BO's horse, who is directly in front of us, begins the whole squirt forward naughty shit too.  I keep hearing from the others in front how "pretty" Jetta looks, complete with ooo's and aaaaa's.  Seriously?!  She's a nano-second away from completely losing it, which will cause your horses to bust out in something faster than a crawl, and you think it's "cute?"  Yea, so at that point I tell the girls that I'm turning off and going my own way.  My poor BO wants to come with me, but I had to tell her that I needed one-on-one time with my fire-breathing-power-keg.  And sure enough, as soon as we turn the corner and I know we're out of eyesight, I gave a hair of a push with my seat and we were airborn.  Bucking, bucking, bucking all while galloping...interesting I thought a horse going forward couldn't buck?!  Apparently Jetta is a truly one-of-a-kind equine.    So, we gallop the entire perimeter of this corn field before she even thinks of slowing down, and at that point I tell her "nope, keep going."  We then went into transitions.  And, I must say...I've never had a ride like that with her before.  Walk to canter, canter to halt, halt to trot, trot to canter to halt, etc etc etc.  And she was SPOT ON!  I added some lateral work, and she moved right off my leg.  About an hour of steady work, and she was blowing and dripping...so we cooled off in the woods for another 45 minutes or so.  Still, this is what she looked like on her chest after 45 minutes of cooling:

And, actually, her whole body was covered.  It was right about now, after I'd taken this picture, that I remembered I hadn't given her any bute.  And I remembered how much galloping/cantering/transitions we had just done.  Great...my horse with the fused ankle was going to be completely lame for days.  Great.  When I came back a couple of hours later to feed and turn in, I was very nervous about what state I'd find my horse in after a ride like we'd had.  Strangely enough, she was sound.  As in, completely and not a hair off anywhere.  I don't mean to sound disappointed, but I was prepared for a completely off horse, and instead she's sound as can be.  Interesting.

The only thing I've changed is that I upped her joint supplement.  At the advice of my (now-deceased :( ) vet, I had put her on SmartFlex Resilience from SmartPak.  However, I had only had her on half dose and it was advised that I put her on full dose.   Hmmm, apparently she's feeling good!  I'm riding again on Saturday - should be interesting to see how she handles.