The walk of shame...

Outstanding ride this morning, I mean it!  Learned a lot and accomplished a lot.  I went out early to get a session in before my noon class at the Y.  Maddie walked out well.  I was riding with a dressage whip for the first time with her.  Today I decided to wait out her slowdown spooks until she came to a complete halt, then ask her to move off again.  I wanted to get out of the pattern we had started, and to try and be very black and white about it.  She would start to really really walk slowly around something spooky, but I decided that as long as she was moving, I would leave her alone.  This strategy worked well and I think we made progress on her confidence.

Rode up to the Schumann's and chatted with Jane for a few minutes.  The dog gave us some good barks but Maddie did not notice.  Maddie stood very well and let Jane pet her.

We spent about 20 minutes in the outdoor arena.  Circles are getting rounder, and canter departs are coming along.  Did a little bit of lateral work.  We took some of Wendy's jumps, both around the pasture and in the woods.  After a jump series in the woods I let her rest, and she managed to step into a pretty large branch that was on the ground.  The branch got caught up in her feet and slapped her on the hindquarters.  When she started to dance, I came off in a slow, undignified slide to the right.  I had a good grip on the reins, but I was on my back and she just kept dancing and prancing.  I tried calming her down but she would not shut down.  After about 20 seconds I let go of the reins and she trotted off.  Never looked back.  Aaaaargh!

I called Maria at home and started walking in the direction Maddie had taken.  It was 20 minutes before I got to the Kind's.  Maddie was not there, but Maria was there tacking up Jordan.  She headed out and I hopped in the truck to go find that mare.  I found Maddie in a plowed field off of 7 Mile Rd. and it was no problem to walk out and catch her.  Once she saw it was me, she trotted towards me a bit and then halted and waited for me to walk up to her.  Jane helped me as I parked the truck in a safe place and found my helmet.  I rode Maddie back to the farm without incident.

I'm not particularly concerned about coming off today.  Maddie did nothing wrong or vicious, and 14hh horses were made for dumb-asses like me that can't stay in the saddle.  We will work harder to get her hindquarters desensitized, and I'll try to react quicker next time.  I know that she would not have spooked like this in the company of another horse, and that pretty soon even this kind of mental challenge will be easy for her.