9/5/07: Space - The Equine Frontier

Last Sunday morning I left the house and started walking to the barn thinking about who I was going to ride. Space, my two-year old stallion, needed to be ridden since it had been a few days since I was last on him.  I went to his stall, haltered him, and led him back to the horse trailer. With Space tied, I brushed him, saddled him, put on his bridle, and selected draw reins so I could keep his head down a little more. With everything ready to go, I led him to the arena and climbed into the saddle. He stood still for me but I had an idea about what was to come. I asked him to start walking, he complied but soon broke into a trotting buck. He bucked in a circle twice and I immediately switched into correction mode. I grabbed the saddle horn with my right hand, sat deep in the saddle, and shortened my left rein simultaneously. With each bucking motion he made, I gave a swift and firm jerk to the bit with the left rein. After fifteen seconds of this and he had had enough. We've been through this routine before. Just wish I had split reins instead of draw reins on. Don't get the wrong impression - I've done lots of ground work with him and he's a real good horse. It's just something that we have to work through sometimes. As I look up, I see Heather's mother watching the entire session from the covered arena. I'm sure she thinks I'm out of my mind for getting on such an animal.

After switching to split reins, I ride Space around the arena for another fifteen minutes working on neck reining, speed control and circles. Looks like he finally has his mind right and so I decide to head out onto the road. We walk down the road past all my neighbor's houses. There is a "cut through" off the road to the right that will take me to an old water canal used to irrigate rice fields here in Brazoria  County. I make my way through a bit of brush and emerge onto the canal berm. I then head south out to an area with no homes or people. As I travel down the canal, I keep an eye out for gators that may be on the bank sunning themselves. I have run into them previously on a few occasions. As I move along, turtles slide into the water, the grass is getting higher, and the mosquitoes  are getting worse. The day is cool and overcast but I see storm clouds in the distance. There is a nice breeze. Since leaving the house, I figure that I've ridden about a mile. I finally arrive at a gate that is usually locked across the canal berm but today it is open. I ride through and continue down the canal. I ride for another twenty minutes and soon notice that the water in the canal is becoming shallow. It is also apparent that there are cows in the area - lots of cows. it makes me wonder why the gate was open. Eventually, I pass a spillway where the water really picks up some speed. Space is somewhat nervous by the sound but gets over it as we pass by. I soon make my way to an area where cows have been getting down to the water at the bottom of the canal. At this point, the water is about a foot deep and I can see fish swimming over the gravel and sand bottom. I try to ride Space down to the bottom of the canal but he will not take the cattle path down. It is narrow and a little steep . I continue to push him but he simply will not go. Finally I dismount and try to lead him down the path - he will not go. As I work to get him down this path I realize that in one spot, the dirt is somewhat muddy. I get him onto that spot and he gently slides down the path into the bottom of the canal. It all sounds worse than it really was. At the bottom, I take the opportunity to throw some water on him to get the mosquitoes off and cool him some. I look around the place and it is incredible. Twenty feet up the canal there is an old bridge going across. From down in the canal, I can see all of its structure underneath. Finally, I get back on Space and ride him down the canal, in the canal.  Again, I'm on the lookout for hazards, not wanting to get my horse stuck, hurt, stung, or eaten. We soon come to a part of the canal where it is not easy to see in the water. I continue on and Space plunges into a large hole where it suddenly got deeper.  He was in water up to his neck. He handled it well and I got him over to the side and rode up the canal embankment back onto the berm. Now firmly back on shore and out of the canal gully, I could see again how close the storm clouds were and decided that I need to reverse course and head home. I cued Space to break into a slow lope which he kept all the way back to the gate. We then made a beeline to the pipline alley that runs up to my original twenty-eight acres. We made good time and I have to say that I was impressed with how this young stallion handled himself after our initial spat. We made our way to the trailer and  and I unsaddled him. The wind had picked up. As I led him to the barn a hard rain started. He's going to be a good horse.