Well, today was a different story. Might be the change in seasons, or Flash just decided to wake up... or something, I don't know. But he was alert and paying attention to ALL sorts of things once we got up to the big hay field. Deuce usually looks at the golfers across the way but Flash mostly ignores them. However, he decided today that the carts and clubs and people across the way were something to be concerned about. So he was quite a alert to the movement and kept looking and starting and got tense when his back was to them. Which would have been fine, had Deuce not fed off the little one's alertness so Deuce was now twice as alert and took more rein to keep at a walk as we wandered up the hill. So with hands full of bouncy baby on the lead line and reins to my mount who wanted to jig and then run, more than walk, I decided to forego trying to ride them through it and quietly turned around to head back towards the safety of the less exciting Christmas tree farm. At that moment, then the neighbor's pony across the road came running across his field out of nowhere and Flash got all snorty and wound up about that. Deuce was still eyeing the golfers, and thankfully held himself together in his jig/walk while Flash danced around (however, he respected the lead and gave to pressure when I asked... swung his haunches around and everything YAY, our exercises are working!) However, it was getting too exciting by the second. I wanted to continue to calmly walk back towards home. I was starting to worry a bit about the pony field, we would have to go right next to i a good ways and little pony could appear out of now where, but at least we would be away from the golfers...
Well, we did not even have a chance to meet the pony. They were both pretty amped up when we crossed the road and then a car passed us as we headed down the less busy road to the barn. So that startled both boys a little more. And then the neighbor was on a ladder and pulling up a huge tarp cover for RV. Flash was already borderline melt down mode and the rustling of the tarp was nearly too much. Deuce was jigging and trying hard to listen to my seat and reins and voice to stay composed for the little one. We passed the scary, commotion and I thought we were nearly in the clear and SWWWWISH!!!! The ladder guy through the rest of the tarp over the roof of the RV and that was it. This was too much for both horses. Flash had it. He decided to get - the- hell- out- of- Dodge RIGHT NOW. I dropped his lead rope so I did not get pulled out of the saddle and heard pounding hooves on pavement while I focused all my attention on getting Deuce reined in. Of course he wanted to run too, but I was not going to let that happen. I left reined hard into a the super steep, 4 foot grassy bank (almost 90 degrees steep!!!) I figured that would be a safe "wall" to turn into and stop. Deuce had no intention of stopping. He CLIMBED right up that wall! Somehow I manged to stay on and once we up on level ground, all the panic left him and he was ready to listen again. I found an easier way to get down and the tarp throwing neighbor complemented on my riding ability to stay in the saddle while Deuce made the impressive climb up the bank (gee, thanks) and we headed down the road to find Flash... who was no where in site.
The car that had passed us just a second ago was pulled over further up the road. The driver was out of the car and hollered back to us, asking if I was okay. I assured her I was fine and when I got closer inquired about the little grey horse. He had flown past her car and ran down the dirt road past the barn and kept going out of site.
Oh boy. Well, Deuce and I were on a lose horse hunt now. I was hoping the little one would have had enough sense to just run back to the barn, but clearly, he missed the turn. Crud.
So Deuce and I set off down the road in the direction the little one likely took - straight- Fortunately , Deuce was back to his solid self and ready for whatever we needed to do. It was reassuring to have him back working with me again. As we passed the barn driveway, I noticed all the horses were still out in their fields and looking rather and happened to see a white face and pointy gray ears poking up above the tall grass in the field. That stinker did not stop at the barn because he was going to Aunty Special! (that's Lea's horse and Deuce's girlfriend).
So we rode over to Flash (who was quietly grazing next to the fence with Special right on the other side) and he paused from mouthfuls to come say hello with a look on his face of "hey, what are you doing here!?" I hopped off Deuce, picked up Flash's lead, adjusted his boots (they had slipped down his legs) and then got back on to complete our ride. Flash acted as if nothing had happened though he was still paying attention to his surroundings more than he had been in the past. The rest of our ride through the Christmas tree farm and in the cross country field was uneventful and I decided we were all settled down enough to call it a night.
I was super proud of Deuce for settling down so well and really can't fault Flash for his panic. He was in scary stuff overload and did not have the coping skills fully cemented just yet. I have to admit, I was pretty pleased to see how quickly he did settle and go back to work after his frantic gallop down the road.
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