Oh Brother!

I guess I did set myself up for today's ride. I woke up to an unusally cold raw day. Since it's supposed to rain the next few days, I went over to the barn to sneak in a ride before work. My normally sane sweet OTTB was a little goofy in the barn while I was grooming, he didn't want to walk down to the ring for whatever reason (he didn't offer an explanation), and then once I'm on, both of us notice turkeys walking around in a back field and a few deer just off to our side in the woods. Since my horse is not fond of wildlife, it really set us up for an interesting ride. I set up my horse calming game of clock where I put 4 ground poles at 3, 6, 9 and 12 and proceed to get his attention on me walking him over the poles. 20 minutes into it, he finally relaxes and stops worrying about the deer and turkeys. Right about then, a trail rider who I've never met before riders her white horse down the driveway toward the ring. At the same time I saw a pretty white mare, Puck saw Godzilla's ghost monster. His head shot up like a giraffe, his body stiffened like he's been dead for 4 days and I just rolled my eyes for the next 15 minutes as I attempted to calm him down. Luckily I had my synthetic saddle on which is nice and sticky in such situations, so I was able to ride out his issues. After he finally relaxed again, I got off and called it a day. What a lovely ride... hee hee.

At least you rode today : ). I had made plans (yeah, I know better : ) to ride with a rarely seen friend but when I went to the barn to feed this am, my little old ninjapony had gotten into the barn and rearranged all that he could. Spent the day rebuilding instead of riding. So. I am glady SOMEbody got to ride today : )

Oh I know those days. :]

LOL I have a TB just like that..totally sweet, awesome guy, but every now and then he has to remind you that he's a TB just in case you forgot.
Silly horses. Glad you were able to get him back in his right mind!

What a silly thing, although....turkeys are scary as it is.... can't imagine looking at them through a horses eyes! Haha glad you were able to ride, but poops for it being a mini rodeo :/

Awwwww bless xD that well reminded me of my horse whiskey when she saw a deer on one of our rides, we walked round the corner to confront a deer, whiskey froze, the deer froze they stood there for like 2 sec then both done a 180 turn and ran the other way I just wish I wasn't on the horse so I coulda taped her reaction

Yeah, I love the old TB standby "I'm outta here" It's nice to read this thread again 3 days later. The next few days here are going to be sunny and 70. I'm going to take him out into the trails and ride him until he's calm. I'll have all day to work at it, so the joke's on him!

You know, I guess one of the good things that come with owning a 20 year old is that Nelson doesn't spook or act like he's 5 *well ok, not counting Fox Hunting* but I have had rides like that before.

I was given a 2 year old OTTB mare back in the 90's - what a spazzoid she was - never owned a mare after her as a matter of fact. I remember riding her out on the trails one day, where a herd of cows came rampaging up behind us, and she didn't react - while I was prepared for her to.

Then near the end of the ride, a few leaves blew across the trail ahead of us, and she blew up like they were predators on the prowl.

Gotta love TB's.