Predictability And The Female

Whisper has no pattern. None. I wasted a lot of hours that first year trying to figure out why she did what she did, the only real answer I have most times is because she's a great big nutty mare with moments of complete glory mixed in with others that only serve her purposes to keep me humble.

She may be cool and calm in the crossties, nodding off or lightly playing with me while I groom, then 10 minutes later under saddle I've got a freight train on full speed.

Then there's days like today. From the back porch I watched her run the full length of the pasture snorting and blowing so loud we could hear her from across 6 acres. Ben tried to keep up and looked pretty running with her until even he shook his head and walked off to graze.

I had planned to ride before she did her show, after watching it I was hoping that she'd burned off some crazy even if history has shown that isn't always the case.

About an hour later I went through the pasture to go up to the barn. Here they came, full gallop straight toward me, they circled me once and then Whisper bucked and headed up the hill. When she got to the top she tried to rear but slipped (it had rained the day before) and went down hard on her hip. She came up okay, shook, and went off trotting again.

Chris came running out of the house asking if she was okay, she seemed like she was, so I put her in the crossties to groom. There she gave me another red flag, a full rear in the ties. I have absolutely no idea why. Nothing moved, nothing made a noise, I wasn't doing anything but currying her big grass-fed rear (not the one she fell on) when she spooked straight up.

A logical person would probably have stopped there. Those who follow Whisper's story know I'm not one who's ever been accused of being laden with excessive logic, I'm more of a head-in-the-clouds daydreamer type and I was ready if a crazy ride was in store.

She rode perfectly. Even down to into my arena for leg yields, trotting serpentines, and then back along the woods for some trail riding through the pasture. She rode steady and sure like an endurance horse used to miles on the changing terrain without a foot placed wrong. When I asked her to slow she did and when I asked her to move out it was there with a little cluck. Heaven on horseback.

Mares.

There are two theories to arguin' with a woman and neither one of 'em works :  old cowboy saying