Mayhem and Ensuing Trauma

So we left off having a totally awesomesauce ride. Friday, not so much. I was originally going to warm up on the flat and then set up a jump course, so that I had more maneuverability while flatting, but she was a ball of fire and blowing through everything so I decided to just work over fences. For some reason, she really settles down over fences- I think it just engages her mind more and it something she truly enjoys, so she settles down to working instead of fighting with me.

I just put a cavaletti on each long diagonal and did figure eights over them, first at the trot and then at the canter. She was definitely bracing to them and taking off long instead of waiting for me, but we worked through it and she settled down to loping over them with me. I was happy enough with that, so I called it quits and got off.

And then.. ugh. I unsaddled her in the ring, to give her a little turnout, and then took the bridle off. She tried to take off while I was slipping the bridle over her head and caught the bit in her mouth, flinging herself backwards and dragging me a few feet before she dropped it and bolted off. Obviously this was not acceptable behavior, so I waited until she stopped running about then caught her in order to do more on-off of the bridle until she stood still and waited. Unfortunately, she had other ideas.

I looped the reins around her neck and was bringing the bit up to her mouth when she decided not to play ball and bolted off, dragging me with her. I was holding the bridle, and the reins were around her neck- I had a brief moment of debate in my mind whether to try and keep holding on or not, and decided to drop the bridle with the hope that she would stop once there wasn't resistance. No such luck. She took off around the ring, tangling the bridle up in her back legs, and quite frankly scaring us both to death. I really, truly thought she was going to break a leg.

Instead, she stopped in a corner and let me unbuckle the reins and untangle the rest of the bridle from her legs. And then she just stood there for a bit, every muscle tense and trembling. So obviously we were a little traumatized from that. I got a halter and walked her around a bit; she had no swelling or abrasions and walked off sound so I thanked my lucky stars, cold hosed each leg for several minutes, and then had to run off to my bus.