Realisations

Fox having a munch

Through all of the problems Fox has remained awesome under saddle. This is what has kept me persevering even though at times I have felt like selling him. On the ground it felt like a constant battle, Fox not standing still for grooming, bad with his feet, aggressive when lunging, super pushy at dinnertime and refusing to get in a float.

But riding has been great, Fox loves getting out and about and we seem to have a really good connection. This has also been part of my problem. I would rush through the hard bits, the grooming and the feet picking and ignore his bad manners to get to the riding. Obviously this didn’t help any of his problems.

My first step to realising that something had to change was after a disastrous float loading session. I was off to a rodeo fun day organised by my old facility. (I know, not the type of thing you normally do with a big warmblood cross but I enjoyed barrel racing even though Fox was terrible at it)I didn’t make it. I was furious and upset. I blamed Fox, I blamed the float, I blamed my partners bad driving the last time we had moved Fox, I blamed everyone but myself.

So I knew something had to change, but I still wasn’t looking in the right place.

Then a month ago we had a particularly bad trimming session with the farrier. Fox would not stand still. He stood looking perfectly relaxed but every time the farrier went for one of his back feet, he would step. Step, step, step. I tried to make him stand still but he just got a look in his eye and at one point his front feet started to lift off the ground. I was so angry at Fox. He had been getting better for the farrier, why was he worse now? I felt like he had let me down.

Then I realised something, it was me. I had been letting my horse down not the other way round.

Something really had to change...