0 days without incident
I never get very far on that counter, because my horse's only goal appears to be to never make it through a single day without at least one incident, preferably more... That, and food. Food is also always a goal.
With a young horse, full of funny ideas, loaded with energy, curiosity and excitement, anything can happen. Really. Anything. Even what you think should not be possible. It's amazing. You experience things and bear witness to stuff that even other riders have never seen or even heard of happening.
Caven is also borderline stupid. Well, stupid sounds a little harsh. Let's say he's clumsy. Insanely clumsy. You know how horses have four legs? Caven occasionaly forgets that he has four of them and thus needs at least three of them on the ground to keep his balance.
Maybe math is not his strong suit. It happened more than once now that when I picked up one of his legs to clean his hoof, he would attempt to walk, turn around (on his remaining three legs, he pulled that off!), or lift a second leg, which (because we CAN count) would've left him standing on only TWO. Which would've ended in a very bad fall, and honestly, I'm surprised THAT hasn't happened yet...
Me: *cleaning front hoof*
Caven: *standing on three legs, shifting weight, attempting to pull up hind leg*
Me: DO NOT
Caven: YOLO
Me: OMG *lets go of front leg so Caven can balance out his fucking stupidity*
That's how it usually goes. I have to make sure Caven keeps his balance, because he doesn't give two shits about how many legs he can or cannot stand on.
Speaking about balance: Not Caven's strong suit either... He's taken two falls in the last couple of days alone. You would think that with four legs it would be rather easy to keep your balance, but turns out: It's astonishingly difficult. Especially when you're a horse. And clumsy.
The first time was insane. Like, INSANE insane. Like, this never happened to anyone before. But it happened to me and Caven, because... Caven. He actually, in fact, managed to fall from a position where he was standing completely and utterly still. Like, he shouldn't have been ABLE to fall, goddammit.
I was grooming Caven, and he was just standing there, dozing off. Then there was a cat. Caven was curious and watched the cat. Then the cat did something, I didn't see what exactly, as I was concentrating on getting the dirt out of Caven's white coat. But the cat startled Caven enough to throw him off balance, he slid and FELL DOWN, TEARING ME DOWN WITH HIM.
I shit you not, my horse fell and knocked me down in his fall with a force that left me dizzy and disoriented for a few seconds (also hurt, but not badly). I landed RIGHT NEXT TO HIM, his hoof hit my thigh as we hit the ground. And as we lay there, staring at each other dumbfoundedly, I realized that I had escaped being crushed under my horse by nothing more than a fucking hair's breadth.
It was scary. I needed a few minutes to catch my breath after we had both gotten back up. We each sustained a scratch from the fall, but luckily, nothing more. Also, no one had been around to witness this weird incident, and when I later told people, everyone went: WHAT THE FUCK.
That was fall number one. Fall number two was just two or three days later, and this time neither as dangerous nor as stupid. Well, stupid, yes, but in a funny kind of way. To me at least. I laughed. Sorry, Caven.
I let him run loose in the round pen to kick off some steam. And he did exactly that. Caven got very excited at one point and started running wild. He went faster than all of his four little legs could carry him, ended up tripping and clumsily slid down into the sand, landing flat on his side. Before he got back up, there was this mere second in which he looked at me, sulking, as if saying: I blame you for this. In fact, I blame you for everything that has ever happened to me. It's all your fault. Dammit, I'm not crying, you're crying!
Then he got back up and kept running as if it had never happened. But I couldn't stop laughing.
Another incident, that had me crying for real also just happened last week. I tried to lunge Caven again (he doesn't like being lunged for some reason that is also beyond everyone...), but he wouldn't have any of it. After a few miserable rounds he dashed off, tore the lunge out of my glove protected (!) hands and made a run for it. At first he galloped across the outdoor arena, but then he aimed straight for the fence... and jumped over it.
Caven jumped over the fucking fence. That little fucker. MY FUCKING HEART STOPPED WHEN I SAW THAT. HOW COULD YOU.
I was afraid he would run off. Get himself hurt. Get run over by a car further down the street. ANYTHING could've happened. But nothing did. Because you know what Caven did? Not a thing. The moment he landed on the other side of the fence he stopped in his tracks, stupidly looking around, apparently dumbfounded by his own actions. HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT. And it was written all over his face.
Caven: OH MY GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE WHAT DO I DO WHERE DO I GO HELP ME
All the other horses on the paddock were lined up at the fence, excited, watching Caven (probably rooting for him to break free). And that's where Caven went. He trotted like 15-20 steps, over to the paddock to reunite with his horse buddies. I hurried after him, but since he had his back to me and was completely excited, I was afraid to approach him from behind. I didn't want to startle or scare him in any way, so I stayed behind and simply called out to him.
He came. This is the most curious thing about it all. Even though he had ran off, he had other horses around him to pay attention to (hell, he could have had the whole world right then), he still payed attention to me. I called, he turned around and came to me. Just like that.
I honestly hadn't expected him to listen to me after what he had done. And that pretty much defines our relationship right now. We want to trust each other, but we don't. Not completely. We both need to grow so much more...
Caven recently moved to a different stall. It's quieter over there and we hope (in vain) that he might calm down a little bit. Of coure, Enjoy is not here, but he already found new friends. And his current stall is bigger, too. :)
With a young horse, full of funny ideas, loaded with energy, curiosity and excitement, anything can happen. Really. Anything. Even what you think should not be possible. It's amazing. You experience things and bear witness to stuff that even other riders have never seen or even heard of happening.
Caven is also borderline stupid. Well, stupid sounds a little harsh. Let's say he's clumsy. Insanely clumsy. You know how horses have four legs? Caven occasionaly forgets that he has four of them and thus needs at least three of them on the ground to keep his balance.
Maybe math is not his strong suit. It happened more than once now that when I picked up one of his legs to clean his hoof, he would attempt to walk, turn around (on his remaining three legs, he pulled that off!), or lift a second leg, which (because we CAN count) would've left him standing on only TWO. Which would've ended in a very bad fall, and honestly, I'm surprised THAT hasn't happened yet...
Me: *cleaning front hoof*
Caven: *standing on three legs, shifting weight, attempting to pull up hind leg*
Me: DO NOT
Caven: YOLO
Me: OMG *lets go of front leg so Caven can balance out his fucking stupidity*
That's how it usually goes. I have to make sure Caven keeps his balance, because he doesn't give two shits about how many legs he can or cannot stand on.
Speaking about balance: Not Caven's strong suit either... He's taken two falls in the last couple of days alone. You would think that with four legs it would be rather easy to keep your balance, but turns out: It's astonishingly difficult. Especially when you're a horse. And clumsy.
The first time was insane. Like, INSANE insane. Like, this never happened to anyone before. But it happened to me and Caven, because... Caven. He actually, in fact, managed to fall from a position where he was standing completely and utterly still. Like, he shouldn't have been ABLE to fall, goddammit.
I was grooming Caven, and he was just standing there, dozing off. Then there was a cat. Caven was curious and watched the cat. Then the cat did something, I didn't see what exactly, as I was concentrating on getting the dirt out of Caven's white coat. But the cat startled Caven enough to throw him off balance, he slid and FELL DOWN, TEARING ME DOWN WITH HIM.
I shit you not, my horse fell and knocked me down in his fall with a force that left me dizzy and disoriented for a few seconds (also hurt, but not badly). I landed RIGHT NEXT TO HIM, his hoof hit my thigh as we hit the ground. And as we lay there, staring at each other dumbfoundedly, I realized that I had escaped being crushed under my horse by nothing more than a fucking hair's breadth.
It was scary. I needed a few minutes to catch my breath after we had both gotten back up. We each sustained a scratch from the fall, but luckily, nothing more. Also, no one had been around to witness this weird incident, and when I later told people, everyone went: WHAT THE FUCK.
That was fall number one. Fall number two was just two or three days later, and this time neither as dangerous nor as stupid. Well, stupid, yes, but in a funny kind of way. To me at least. I laughed. Sorry, Caven.
I let him run loose in the round pen to kick off some steam. And he did exactly that. Caven got very excited at one point and started running wild. He went faster than all of his four little legs could carry him, ended up tripping and clumsily slid down into the sand, landing flat on his side. Before he got back up, there was this mere second in which he looked at me, sulking, as if saying: I blame you for this. In fact, I blame you for everything that has ever happened to me. It's all your fault. Dammit, I'm not crying, you're crying!
Then he got back up and kept running as if it had never happened. But I couldn't stop laughing.
Another incident, that had me crying for real also just happened last week. I tried to lunge Caven again (he doesn't like being lunged for some reason that is also beyond everyone...), but he wouldn't have any of it. After a few miserable rounds he dashed off, tore the lunge out of my glove protected (!) hands and made a run for it. At first he galloped across the outdoor arena, but then he aimed straight for the fence... and jumped over it.
Caven jumped over the fucking fence. That little fucker. MY FUCKING HEART STOPPED WHEN I SAW THAT. HOW COULD YOU.
I was afraid he would run off. Get himself hurt. Get run over by a car further down the street. ANYTHING could've happened. But nothing did. Because you know what Caven did? Not a thing. The moment he landed on the other side of the fence he stopped in his tracks, stupidly looking around, apparently dumbfounded by his own actions. HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT. And it was written all over his face.
Caven: OH MY GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE WHAT DO I DO WHERE DO I GO HELP ME
All the other horses on the paddock were lined up at the fence, excited, watching Caven (probably rooting for him to break free). And that's where Caven went. He trotted like 15-20 steps, over to the paddock to reunite with his horse buddies. I hurried after him, but since he had his back to me and was completely excited, I was afraid to approach him from behind. I didn't want to startle or scare him in any way, so I stayed behind and simply called out to him.
He came. This is the most curious thing about it all. Even though he had ran off, he had other horses around him to pay attention to (hell, he could have had the whole world right then), he still payed attention to me. I called, he turned around and came to me. Just like that.
I honestly hadn't expected him to listen to me after what he had done. And that pretty much defines our relationship right now. We want to trust each other, but we don't. Not completely. We both need to grow so much more...
Caven recently moved to a different stall. It's quieter over there and we hope (in vain) that he might calm down a little bit. Of coure, Enjoy is not here, but he already found new friends. And his current stall is bigger, too. :)