Friday, January 31, 2014

Funny Story from January 12, 2014

After Sassy and I finished our exploration across the river, we decided it was time to take a break and have lunch.  I called David and asked him to bring Maverick to this little place we had decided to meet for lunch; after we finished eating, I would ride Maverick and David would walk Sassy back to the trailer and unsaddle her, etc.

Here's our Maverick:   
He will be 6 years old in February, so he's still pretty much a young 'un.  :)  Very sweet, very mild-mannered, and still a little green (although he's come a long way!!) since we first adopted him.

Here are a few pics of the area where we were having lunch, near Foxtail:
Both Sassy and Maverick were enjoying grazing a little bit on the grass, and David and I were sitting on some rocks eating our sandwiches.  The area where the four of us were was on the bank of a wash; there was a nice shade tree, and the weather was just perfect.  Unfortunately, in the blink of an eye, complete chaos erupted!!

Maverick, being the "young pup" that he is, became totally frightened when a branch moved a little bit when blown by the wind.  The branch lightly scraped across his saddle, and off he ran!  I stood up immediately, and jumped down into the wash.  Maverick's tail was the closest thing I could reach, so I grabbed hold of it, which caused him to slow down a little.

Meanwhile, Sassy, being the "alpha" that she is, turned and jumped down into the wash so that she could see what the heck was happening!  David was nervous, he said, half expecting her to bolt.  When Sassy saw I was taking care of Maverick, though, she stood perfectly still and watched.

Well, it must have been a sight to see!  LOL  Maverick started to bolt a second time when he heard Sassy jump down into the wash; good thing I still had hold of his tail, and I was not about to let go! As a result, he dragged me a few feet through the sand.  Finally, I raised my voice to him and called his name rather loudly.  When he realized I was the one holding onto his tail, he immediately stopped, and I grabbed hold of his lead rope.

Poor David and Sassy had gotten back up on the bank of the wash, and both were staring at us as we walked back toward them.  David could not believe I held onto Maverick's tail, refusing to let him go, and quite frankly, I guess I had trouble believing it as well!  LOL

I knew, though, that if Maverick had been allowed to "blindly run," the situation would not turn out well.  The only two directions he could run in both had disastrous consequences.  I also know that what I did is not the "best" solution, and yes, I could have fallen and gotten hurt.  However, I was aware that I was on sand, and I was 99% sure Maverick would stop when he realized it was me behind him instead of some "branch" attacking him.  LOL

The look on Sassy's face was pretty darn similar to the look on David's face, which I found quite humorous.  I walked Maverick back up onto the bank of the wash, finished lunch, put his headstall back on, climbed up into the saddle, and boy, did he get a workout!!!!!  In fact, he missed Sassy so much, this is what he had to say.........

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151912896767813&l=6538912753958685556

Later on, Maverick and I encountered MIDNIGHT's band for a second time that day, and he started whinnying again for Sassy.  LOL   I told him he was just fine, and coaxed him along.

On our way back to the trailer, we ran into a couple people who stopped and asked if we'd been over near Foxtail earlier in the day.  I said that yes we were there, and asked them why they wanted to know.  The one guy chuckled and said, 'lady, you rock!  We saw you hold onto that horse's tail when he was trying to run in the water!  How'd you hold onto him??'

I chuckled and replied, 'very carefully!!!!!'   


4 comments:

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

That's certainly a trail riding story I haven't heard from anyone else before!

How Sam Sees It said...

Haha - you are brave. I think any other horse would have kicked out. I never worry about my Maggie running off, but my Friesians have been known to wander off and frisk people for their lunches.

Unknown said...

LOL I knew Mav wouldn't kick me, but I also knew if I let him run "frightened," he'd run either into the river, or up the boat launch ramp and out onto Bush Highway! I'm just glad we were in sand. LOL

How many horses do you have???

Achieve1dream said...

LOL!! That's a great story!! I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall! :)

Welcome to the blogging world by the way! I look forward to reading about more of your adventures. :)