Horizons

It was a warm, soft early spring day. A procession of receding ridges melted into a slight and inobtrusive haze. The first flowers had appeared, snowdrops and crocuses, and buds are swelling. The ground is firm but not hard. Sheep and cattle are out at pasture and the sward shows the first tentative signs of new growth. Silence enveloped the rolling hills.

I used to drive out of the still-snowy mountains to experience a day like this on the lowlands. What joy filled my heart to feel the warmth and see the new growth, neither of which would reach my home for another couple of months.

That early spring euphoria grips me still on a day such as today. Happiness such that I could sing, a broad smile and a deep feeling of well-being, like the morning after the first night with a new lover. But without the yawning and the coffee to stay awake.

Bare as the pockets of spendthrifts the beech trees remind me of winter, unsurprisingly after their flamboyant celebration of autumn.

I guided Brena from the well-used ridge trail onto a perpendicular way, grassy and little-used. In a mile along the ridge one may see twenty people on a Sunday. But branch off and one might see one or two people in five miles. People who can read a map and are willing to walk more than a mile from the car park. Members of a rare breed.

I encountered just one, and met her with chivalry for she was the nearest thing to a damsel in distress that I could hope to find. There was a dead muntjak in the trail, part-eaten by foxes, and her Thoroughbred would not pass. The trail being hedged, there was no way around. so I rode an unconcerned Brena to and fro past the carcass to dispel the aura of peril. After some minutes the wary little mare was sufficiently convinced to convey her charming owner past and homeward.

I am glad to ride a steady, sensible draught-cross. 

Once in a while one does need to dismount and clear an obstruction. That's when a lead rope can come in handy, there being a tree or a fence to tie a horse to safely in most cases. My rescuee didn't have a rope to hand. There again, English horses are used to be tied up to a loop of baler twine "so that they can break free if startled". Some are adept at taking advantage of this feature. My horses coming from the Balkans are trained to be tied to something solid without a breakable link, and are all the safer for it.

This weekend I rode Brena for about six hours in total. With more work she is settling down after an idle winter. Going out riding is becoming "normal" again for both of us. I like to be in that place where riding is as natural as walking. It used to be my home terrain, that fluency flowing from many hours in the saddle. Spring is the time to recapture that special relationship. It was a special pleasure to request a canter and not be treated to a small high-spirited buck. I am sure that it was a pleasure for Brena to be ridden by a more supple and relaxed me. The outcome is trust, and with trust there is much less need for rigid control. I say that because, for me, a deficit of trust can only be replaced by obedience to orders. That means control and, again with me, a tense rider. Tense because I am not quite sure whether I shall be obeyed. But with trust, never mind that a canter becomes a gallop. We're in a big open space of my choosing, there are no hazards ahead, and I know that Brena will tire within a quarter mile. I know that she won't deliberately do anything mean. She is sure-footed. It will all end well.

Comments

[funder]

You've taken such beautiful pictures lately, J! Glad you're getting lots of saddle time on your excellent mare.

[White Horse Pilgrim]

Thank you. Pocket cameras really have got better. Image stabilisation is so handy on horseback. Then all I have to do is straighten and crop the images. I do enjoy your descriptions of rides too. We're lucky to each have a good skewbald mare!

[jess]

Loved that wee story. I can sadly identify more with the woman on the tb than you these days... and boy do I miss having a solid horse out on the trail. Through all the ups and downs, I have to say this will be my last overly sensitive horse. Next purchase will be good solid Lipizzaner or Murgese...though since Dali is only 9, Im stuck with a crazy for a few more years yet :)

This summer we will hopefully sell Navarro though, as Paolo has no need for his own horse, and happy enough jumping on mine when (rarely) he feels the urge to ride... perhaps opening the door to a more suitable trail horse in the family.

Glad shes behaving after the spring, I copped a couple of those happy bucks two years back. Like you say, shes not nasty though - and you know all will end well. Thats why I stick with Dali, I know hes not dirty. I would rather a horse that does something predictably naughty than one that is good 99% of the time and truly awful 1% .

[White Horse Pilgrim]

If she'd have been younger (at least not older than me!) and I'd been single then I might have come away with her phone number as a prize!

But seriously a solid horse is such a good thing. You did sell me a good one. There's only been one buck lately, and now I know how to ride through them without mishap. I guess that if they don't have an effect, there's no point throwing one in!

I know what you mean about the horse that has that mean 1%. It's not good. I used to guide from a mare who, just once in a while, would do something horrible to her rider. Yes, it's good to have a solid trustworthy beast.