What the hell just happened?

What the hell is in the water this week?

I had not been to see Ms Foxy since Tuesday. I went out today prepared to saddle and maybe even try to ride if someone was around. I got there and Foxy was same ol same ol, happy to see me, blah blah blah. Got her all groomed up, saddled her up and slapped the ol bridle on as well. She was a little snorty during the saddling which is...not that normal. But whatever, we worked past it. Brought her out to the front pasture to lunge and while we are walking she was right up next to me...so I raised my hand to push her off a bit. She pulled back hard, eyes wide and acting like I had just threatened to whack her or something. Weird.

So we continued on out and started to lunge. She was pretty balky. We always start by walking along, eventually ask for a trot, etc etc. She walked and kept wanting to crank her head to look at the neighbors place, or just slow down or stop walking. Just very very balky. I asked her to trot and she did but unhappily, had some head shaking going on and was just pissy as can be. I hate to lunge with reins attached as I worry about her getting tangled if shit goes south. Because she was just acting pissy as can be, I stopped her and pulled the bridle off. Continued lunging and she was STILL balky. I don't lunge with a whip generally, as she does not need it. If all else fails I will swing the end of the lunge line at her.

Which is what I did today when she continued to hang back and balk at trotting. And she friggin exploded. Turned to face me, pulled back hard and reared. Landed from the rear and just went straight into bucking. Full on rodeo bronc style bucking. Head down and jumping up and kicking out in the rear and back and forth, weaving around bucking like a horse who had never been saddled before. What the hell. It was all I could do to hold onto her. She bucked quite a bit. I can only imagine what the people driving past were thinking. She did eventually quit. I have to admit that I just stood there afterwards. I know that I needed to keep her going and push her through it but I was so surprised and shaken up that I just stood there to regroup. Ended up walking up to her and fixing her halter (the knot had slipped quite a bit) and checked the cinch. Then I sent her back out to trot. She did so reluctantly for a few laps before I asked her to stop and change directions. She did that but unhappily and we continued on.

And then she did it again.

Stopped, spun to face me and pulled back hard in a half rear, landing into a bucking spree. This one was shorter lived but still full on rodeo style bucking. When she stopped I asked her to back a bit and then sent her out to trot more. She trotted a bit both directions but started limping pretty badly and we had to stop.

What the hell was that?

She was so. fricking. SOUR. She did not want to work. At all. I brought her back and ended up unsaddling her very very carefully in the arena. Tied her up while I put everything away and then put her away herself. I filled her water but no treats no nothing.


Seriously. What the hell just happened? She has NEVER acted like that. It wasn't scared bucking. It wasn't bucking from pain. It was straight on sour and pissy ass bucking.


Prior to today I was just waiting for someone to be at the barn so I could try riding her. Now I am very much going to wait until we get her feet sorted out. Because if I cannot lunge the pissiness out of her, there is no safe way to ride her. If I can get her sound, she needs to be sent out to be started by a professional. There is no way in hell I can stay on through that kind of bucking. I don't know what the deal is as she is usually so sweet and easy going. Today she wanted NOTHING to do with work. She has gotten more and more like this since the addition of Abby her best buddy QH. Barn sour, buddy sour, work sour. Whatever you want to call it.


Stinking horse.


Retirement is looking pretty good today! I have been going back and forth with Foxy. I really really want to get a fence up and bring her home. But my yard is not a good place to train. I am on a hill and there are of course flat spots and it would be okay for a horse to hang out there...but not good lunging area. But maybe at this point, I can just get that fence up and bring her home....maybe by the time I can afford some training for her, she will be sound. And if not sound, then she will need to stay "retired" anyways. I had been thinking of getting her restarted and then bringing her home after that, figuring I could just ride her around the backyard a little here and there. Now I am thinking of just bringing her home now and training her later.

What a mess!