My horse is high strung

Every weekday morning my mum and I get up and drive out to see my beloved horse Red. He grazes about 25 mins away from us so we endevour to have everything ready the night before so I can have maximum riding time. Today we left later then usual, and mum needed to get back early so as a result I didn't have much time this morning. I decided that some nice, quick groundwork would be in order to save all the hassle of saddling up.

So I took him into the 'plum tree paddock' to work on commands. I got the point where he would follow after me nicely and listen to what I was saying with no leadrope so I went over to the car to tell mum to watch how wonderful he was going. I proceed to say 'trot on' and he did, then mum suddenly got out of the car. Well Red got a fright. See Red is a very high strung horse. He gets frights easily, and often spooks at nothing. He took off and we watched as he cantered away back in the direction of his herd mates. This usually wouldn't be a big deal but his herd mates were at the other end of the property and all the gates along the way were open. We jumped into the car and mum dropped me off at the gate by the 'staircase paddock' where the herd was. Sure enough Red was in front of the gate, his tail held high, calling to his friends. I snapped the leadrope back on and walked him alllllll the way to the clubhouse. That was enough for the day I decided so I fed him, put his cover back on and then walked him all the way back to the staircase paddock.

Oh the joys of owning a high strung horse. But its all good because I love him. And love is all about forgiving :)

PS: The picture is one of Red not being high strung... my compliments to the photographer (my number one reader) Isla