Tuesday, July 23, 2019
I loaded Rosie, by herself (never easy), and took off toward local public lands where folks ride horseback and enjoy other activities. My goal was to unload this complex mare, along with her cart also on board, and to harness and drive her. Although I’ve ridden for years in on those lands, I know the narrow and pick-your-way-through trails, not the wider, hopefully softer paths. But it was time to get Rosie out and test our relationship.
This 22-year-old mare is used to getting her way. She came to me six years ago and was different from any of my (very few) previous horses. She had an attitude, tended to be pushy, considered herself a lead mare and bullied my other horse, and often seemed overwhelming to this novice owner. I recognized that if she couldn’t get away with unwanted behaviors, she could be willing and sweet. Over time, I did learn to ride her, never imagining that someday I’d be driving her.
Now, we’re driving, and all by ourselves in 10,000 acres of wild outdoors. Rosie tried to resist being loaded without another horse along, stamped and yelled into her window most of the ride, but disembarked like a lamb once we were parked. There were challenges ahead. She had to stand stock still in this strange area while I hitched the cart to her harness; she’d had to avoid being spooky and remain in control while pulling me over strange paths with little (please, “little”!) wild creatures in surrounding brush. In fact, Rosie did everything perfectly.
What’s changed isn’t Rosie, but me. Her pushiness and size over the years was intimidating. Until I started learning to drive a horse–a sport with new dangers. A driver sits 5-6 feet behind the horse, and in a wheeled vehicle while exerting control through long reins. Rosie responds quickly, is fast-moving, and still intimidating. It took a year to learn my job enough to gain courage to drive her. Early on, I didn’t realize we were working toward an eventual test-outing together. Creating a partnership forced me to ignore fears and fantasies in order to meet and outwit the real challenges. In the end, our efforts revealed Bully Rosie as a big faker. One needs to manage her.
Dear Friends: This small win for a novice horse-person, like me, feels huge. Diana
Diana's Morning Blog 
This is a real accomplishment, Diana. You can feel mighty proud. I’m impressed.
On Tue, Jul 23, 2019 at 8:08 AM Diana’s Morning Blog wrote:
> trailriderincentraloregon posted: ” Tuesday, July 23, 2019 I loaded Rosie, > by herself (never easy), and took off toward local public lands where folks > ride horseback and enjoy other outdoors activities. My goal was to unload > this complex mare, along with her cart which also was on b” >
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Magnificent accomlishment! There’s probably a lesson here in regard to dealing with “bullies” in general. Somehow, when one is as beautiful as Rosie, the challenge seems even greater! Now that you seem to have figured Rosie out, I wonder if day-to-day life with her will be any different?
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Kat, as always, thanks for your thought-provoking observations. Here’s my take: Rosie will continue to get away with what she can, for it’s how she learned to cope. I am handling her more effectively by focusing on goals and behaving less like a milk-toast. Rosie will keep trying to do “Rosie stuff”, but teaming well and safely requires her to listen and respond. Our Tumalo adventure proved her able, gave me the go-ahead to ask even more from this amazing mare. But I must keep learning, more and better, the managing and handling of us both.
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