frustrated

It must be the "let's remind Kate that she owns a 4yo OTTB!" week after the whole throwing Cinnamon into the woods and then being very difficult. I had the worst, most frustrating ride on Tuesday. It was like a battle of wills. Lucy was such a pain and I was determined not to let her drag me around. She fought me with every little thing I asked her to do. If I had known it would be such a bad ride, I wouldn't have ridden at all, even though I know rides like this one are crucial to a young horses development.

I felt so frustrated, even after the ride was over and I was home. I felt like she had zero respect for me the entire time, at times acting like she didn't even know I was riding. She wanted to run and careen around the corners and pull me out of the saddle. She tried switching her leads and dragging me around to the opposite direction when I was trying to do a circle. I wanted to end it on a good note but we literally had no good notes! She would have a stride of relaxation and then I would release a bit and give her a pat and she'd try to speed up again immediately. It got to the point where I got off, untacked her, put her in the indoor and round-penned her until she was licking and chewing and begging to stop, and then did some ground work with her. It was long and exhausting for both of us and I don't think anything really positive came from it, which is very disheartening.

She had last night off because I did the overnight on the ambulance, but today after work I am going to try again.