The Visibility is Gettin' Better All the Time
When I was scuba diving a lot, my friends and I discovered that the more things that went wrong preparing for the dive, the better the visibility was on the actual dive. So whenever things started to go wrong with whatever we were preparing to do, we'd say, "At least the visibility is getting better."
Last ride I had on Isabeau was a real disappointment. She was spooking all over the place, covered in sweat, and dancing anxiously the whole ride. I was eager to get her out again and prove it was an aberration. So, today was her turn. I led her up to the tack room, holding her bridle, and put the saddle pad on her. She reached down to eat some hay that had fallen, and I thought, "That's good and will keep her occupied as I put on her saddle. But when I let loose of the reins to pick up the saddle, instead of continuing to eat, she bolted wildly, bucking, kicking out, and racing around. This is totally out of character for Isabeau. She thinks she's a queen. She never does anything giddy or silly. After a bunch of crazy running around, she came right up to me. So I put a largish rope halter on over her bridle and tied her. When I put the saddle on, I discovered the cinch had torn halfway through, I'm sure due to the wild spin bolting she did last ride. I had a new cinch in the horse trailer, so I went to get the cinch. As I came back, I saw her start to pull back wildly on her halter. Isabeau has never EVER pulled back. That's so gauche, she would say. She pulled the hitching post right out of the ground and started to drag it. I was quite concerned that she was going to get badly hurt.
Of course, it was a rope halter with the leadrope attached so I couldn't unclip her. Of course the safety release knot was pulled so tight it wouldn't release. Of course the leadrope was over her head, and after I untied the rope halter, I could not free her. But happily Isabeau IS queen and usually quite dignified, so she stood calmly while I worked at the safety release and finally got her freed.
Got the saddle on, and the new cinch was too small. I'd have to change around all the fittings to make it work. Of course, the temp was 35 degrees F, and gloves had to be off. I had a larger cinch also in the horse trailer, so this time I put her in her stall to grab the other cinch. All the time I'm thinking, "I probably should ride another horse. This is NOT going well. Nah, it's going to be great once I get on her. The visibility is getting better all the time."
The second (third) cinch was too big, so I did have to adjust the other fittings. Because Isabeau loves a saddle that doesn't fit her well, I have to have a fat-man strap on either side of the cinch. Both of those needed to be adjusted and were rusty and stiff. And my hands completely numb with cold.
And all the time, Isabeau was dancing around frantically, and I wondered if I was really crazy for climbing on this horse.
I did decide to do one smart thing and that was to ride her in the fields and woods right by my house instead of heading down the road to the nicer trails. That way, she wouldn't have any cars to spook at, and I could easily walk home if she got me off. But just as I hoped, once I got on her, she rode off beautifully. We rode 2 hours and didn't have a bit of problems. She was wonderful. The visibility was just great!