OH my!! The dreaded thing happened, I knew it would some day.......During the last week, I trailered off site to my favorite arena nearby. I am usually the only one there in the middle of the day..which I like. This particular fickle spring day, it started to Thunder and rain tremendously, just as I began my inside ride! It was soo loud- that the mare just stopped and looked up! I am so proud of her for not attempting to bolt. She never has-for fear-, save one time on the trails, she did a bounding canter pirouette, as A deer leapt above her on a ledge!
Though all that said, I was very happy that I was NOT at the far end of the arena when the storm did let go...it is a scary place ..the far end of the arena. I was told that some other horses too dislike it, though it does not look any different than any other place inside! I think, if it were me building the arena....I would have had the stalls down there..so all the comforting things were not at one end of the arena...horses, gates, exit! That does leave the "other end" for scary things such as WORK and probably more WORK..not too enticing..so monsters do reside down there, some horses have insisted!It does seem that every stable I have ridden in, that there IS a certain area in or around the arena that the horse does choose to shy from, be it real or perceived!
I taped my ride..but it is too long to share( thoughts for next time) but also I won't because...the angle of walking up to the camera, upon my mare to turn the thing off or on, close up of of my MID SECTION>>oooeeewww << I think my mare may be caring a bit too much of me around!
My Horse's Therapist recently went to a lecture series from David Marlin PHD for the US Olympic Equestrian team and other FEI recognised sport horse events around the world. His studies and recommendation for a horse's limit of weight forrider and all tack is 15-17% of the horses's weight.
THAT will be another post and I am making sure she updates her blog and Web page=found on my sidebar= to include all her very pertinent info for us horse lovers...soon!
Anywho... We worked a while after the thunder/loud rains stopped and the pony that was shrilly neighing from a stall, stopped...the mare and I settled in for a nice quiet ride, with a soft Classical music playing in the back ground. Love the fact that this owner plays that for the horses, while they are inside. It made my ride nicer as I am working on having my mare relaxed enough to "Chew the reins" from me onto a longer self carrige. She did do it in the canter this time...she was snorting- into longer frame- so much, I just allowed her the length of the reins. felt so good.
After a nice ride(too bad I ran the camera battery down and out, or you'd see what follows) I loaded up and was backing away... had my eye on the tail end of the trailer to make sure I was turning correctly...I can be soo dyslexic! THEN, I felt it happen; I was paying so much attention to the rear end of the trailer, I forgot to make sure I was on the gravel drive..and now...I WAS NOT! I was in the grass, and had sunk down to the running boards of the truck-IN MUDD- in two tuns of the wheel!
OH - - - - - !!!!!!! I called the owner, whom I just called to thank and tell her I was jettin' away home again. She came out and thought she could get the thing out and dug it in further....the mare was unloaded before all this, Someone, I just met, was holding her and admiring how calm and pleasant she was, looking on our muddy antics. It did not look good folks and Iwas terribly scared of having to leave the rig there..I called my Stable owner to come get the mare and she said..lets pray...we did..and she said she would wait for my next call to hear what to do.
The arena owner went and got her little blue tractor....hooked it up to the front of the truck, I put er in 4 wheel low and she pulled us about 5 feet BUT= I failed to turn the wheel straight and it jammed us in the mudd WORSE>more - - - - !!!
She then called her son...he came over in a flash and was just too kind and hooked the Little Blue tractor to the rear Axel of the trailer...I was scared of breaking my sisters truck...the owner looked at my face and said, " My son can fix anything!" Uh...that did not really make me feel good, as I did NOT want it broken, to have to fix!
Well........we did it...it came out like sliding through butter! Amazing!
So then, after arriving home and tucking the mareface into her stall...I had to wash the truck and trailer, in the rain, no less! The muddy clay of the area will stain the white trailer if left on it..I mean, it was SPRAYED all over it..when the =barn owner tried to remove it.... she really tried! I took some of her grounds away with me, I am sure a load, after I looked under the truck!Wow...I am parking differently next time we already discussed this fact and also the fact of how costly gravel is and that they need more area for folks to maneuver!
LOL forgive me! i dont mean to laugh, I'm not laughing at you but with you! LOL you have SO pulled what my family calls a Rachel! LOL girl..we must have been sisters in another life! Just glad you got out and Wa and you had a nice ride in spite of it all!
ReplyDeleteHAHAHA...NOW I can laugh too...I was very upset and even if my camera woudl ahve been working..probably would not have taken the pics...was Mortified!
ReplyDeleteoh my goodness!!! I was half laughing and thanking whomever that it was NOT me writing that post!! So glad you made it out of the mud.
ReplyDeleteThat is like a nightmare getting stuck in the mud or the snow...
Okay, first you had the special effects thunderstorm and the Arena End of Death, then you got stuck in the mud?
ReplyDeleteYikes!
You tell your story with such levity, and now that you aren't stuck, it is funny. But that's one of my worst nightmares, since I can barely back the rig into a space smaller than a football field.
But the thing I loved most is that when you called your stable owner, she had you pray. I'm a Christian so I'm not making fun here, but I found that almost kind of funny. Next time somebody calls me and wants help, I'll say "let's pray" and then take my phone off the hook.
Except -- look what really happened. You got unstuck! You didn't break your sister's truck, your horse still has all four legs, and you did not expire from the stress.
I love this story and have learned two things from it: avoid the mud and call a friend for prayers when in a bad place.
Glad you had a good ride. What a brave horse Wa is for no freaking out in the storm!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure we can all picture ourselves getting in that situation. Poor you, but thankfully they got you out! I'm not too good at backing my trailer up, I usually wimp out and get someone to help me if it's a tight spot I need to back into. I'm never going to get better this way.
Oh, Kacy! What a day you have had! So glad everything came out OK in the end! If that had been me I probably would have backed through the side of the barn/arena!!! Me, I'm dyslexic too!
ReplyDelete~Jane and Gilly~
What an ordeal! I was having fits trying to re-park my trailer yesterday, and I got so fed up with my failed attempts that I drove right up the manure pile in order to get into the position I needed, and almost... almost got stuck.
ReplyDeleteI sure am glad you got out Kac! Sounds EXACTLY like something I would do! And my friend Linda (who has my horse at her ranch and is the one I constantly ride with) isn't much better! The prayer is probably what did it tho'! Here's a good story that happened to Linda the other day. She had hitched up the trailer to the truck and thought she was ready to go, but her horse Red would NOT MOVE from between the trailer and the truck. She didn't want to get out so she was yelling at him and I think she even threw an empty water bottle his way, all to NO avail. Now, Red gets in his moods and can be quite stubborn and just generally enjoys getting in the way so she wasn't thinking this was anything unusual. Well, she finally got out and went over to make him move, and SHE HAD FORGOTTON TO LATCH DOWN THE LOCKING LATCH which is the final saftey mechanism hitching the trailer to the truck!!! The trailer would have come unhitched while she was driving! Red knew it and would not move until she got out and fixed it! Tell me God wasn't involved in that one?
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your story....
~Mindy
ARGH! What a day. But you survived. Your situation reminded me of past "How the H___ did we get into this situation?" instances. They begin straightforward enough, then go where no man or woman has gone before. Or ever wants to!
ReplyDeleteIf you want a good trailer story...the current president of ODS was hauling her gelding one day years ago and without warning she watched her trailer pass her truck with the horse's head sticking out of the feed window! Yep, the trailer had come unhitched. It eventually ended okay. Her version of the event is hysterical.
We didn't have your thunderstorm, but we did have gusty winds that rattled the end doors of the arena. Our horses are already ogling the "horse eating" barn swallows sweeping past and through our half wall. I figured I'd have to ride a 20 meter circle in the center of the arena...but we ventured a little closer to the ends of the arena.
Hope Wa got a special treat when you got home!
Oh Man..I am a hootin' with the "Other horror stories" today!
ReplyDeleteThis has been a good post to admit!
By the by...both the stable owner and, soon to arrive on the scene, daughter told me that day that they have THEMSELVES gotten stuck there(not that spot) in the mudd!
KC....I NEVER use weed killers. The way to a good pasture is mowing. I have no burdocks or other bad weeds.
ReplyDeleteWhen it rains...it pours, eh? And makes mud.
ReplyDeleteGood things it all ended well...but what a wild ride, eh? :)
~Lisa