I rode Firefly, the mean strawberry roan mare. She has gotten much better since I moved her to the front of the barn. She still wouldn't win Miss Congeniality but she looks forward to me getting to the barn and giving her attention before feeding. I know that if she was the only horse I had or if we had fewer horses and she got more work she would be fine. I put her in the cross ties today to clean her stall and to groom her. She had her mane in a mess. I had to soak parts of it with MTG and then it combed right out. That stuff works miracles on knots. I figured as long as I had her out I might as well ride a little while. I hadn't ridden her in several months. I tacked her up and got on with no problem or protests. No popping up on the front end like she usually does when we first start out. I rode her up the hollow and through the creek and back. When I got back to the barn, DH had come to the barn and was tacking up Godiva to ride along with me. We went back up the hollow and home through the creek. On the way back DH opened the gate we have to ride through and started through. I started through behind him and Godiva balked in front of us so we had to stop. The gate swung shut on us and Firefly sidestepped into the gate post which startled her and caused her to jump forward and sideways. I ended up far down on her right side fully expecting her to go balistic so I was looking for the best spot to make my "unplanned dismount". You can never let them see you sweat so I talked soothingly to her and told her to, "Whoa, Easy girl." And to my very pleasant suprise she stood stock still until I was able to climb back up in the saddle from my very compromised position. I then got off the conventional way and checked her over. She had a couple of small scrapes and a small cut so I walked her back to the barn so I could see if she was giving even slightly. She had hit the gate post pretty hard and I didn't want to miss any problems that might get worse after I left the barn for the day. She appeared to be fine and wanted to stop and graze along the road. I untacked her and turned her into the lot instead of putting her into her stall. I wanted her to be able to move around to keep from getting stove up. I threw her a pile of hay and she was fine. I sprayed the few scrapes with the "purple wonder spray" and all is well tonight. She really is a good horse and I want to find just the right home for her. She deserves that.
