Take care of your pony

Boy, if there's one thing that will screw up my ride every time, it's not having enough time.

Does this happen to any of you?

Since I'm "self employed" it doesn't happen to me all that much anymore, but when I was living on more of a set schedule, it was a guaranteed recipe for disaster.

You'd think I would have learned my lesson and just not ridden if I didn't have enough time.

By "enough time", I mean at least a couple of hours.  It amazes non-horse people how much time can be sucked up in a barn.  But not me.  I'm realistic.  I know if I have one horse to ride, it will take me two hours to get the job done fairly.

At least 10 minutes to groom out and boot up, another 15 to lunge and see how she looks that day, 10 more to finish brush and tack up, 15 minutes of warm-up, 20 of hard work, 20 to cool down, another 30 to untack, brush out, let her loose in the round pen to roll, then brush her out again, blanket her, check water buckets, fencing, etc...you get the idea.

I am always amazed at the people who will come out, ride their horses into the ground with no warm up, and put them away wet.  In 20 degree weather, that's pretty miserable.

There's an old horseman's adage that says, "A good horseman always sees to his horses' needs before his own."

I have always loved this maxim.  And I believe it to be true for all the living things (or tiny humans) who rely on you for care.  I don't have children, and my parents will tell you I've been saying I'll never have them since I was about 3 (which coincided, curiously, with the birth of my only brother).  So my pony and 3 kitties are my babies, and I make sure to care for them the absolute best that I can.

It takes no small amount of empathy and self-sacrifice to follow the horseman's code.  If it's a blistering hot day, unless I'm going to faint, the horse, done with her workout, gets her saddle pulled off and a hose-down before I get my drink of water.  If it's cold, the horse gets her saddle pulled, her saddle blanket left on for a few minutes, curried down, brushed, dried off and blanketed before I think about heading somewhere warm for myself.  If there's ice in the water buckets, I break it and clean it out.  Even if it's 15 degrees out.  My hands will warm up again eventually.

I think this way of treating your horse is something they quickly come to rely on.

I think it fosters in them a feeling that their needs will not only never be ignored, but taken care of promptly.  On the rare day that something calls me away from my usual untacking routine, the horse stands quietly, knowing I haven't forgotten her.

I respect her desire to be warm and comfortable back in her own pen on par with my desire to return to my warm comfortable house.

A horse whose needs are neglected quickly "learns" that he will be ill treated, and it makes him anxious about saddling, riding, and being tied at the end of the ride.  It's a shame.

It's something that makes me want to take on horses I can't.  I have to content my brain with knowing that I can take good care of the one I have, and be happy that she'll never know starvation, ill-treatment, or neglect.