Bad Books

Miss Kika is most definitely in the dog house after her carry on yesterday evening. We started out on the beach without any problems,  splashing right into the sea like the fish out of water she is. All was going well till for no reason it wasn't,  she wound herself up into an almighty state and coiled up like a spring.

I hopped off and walked for a while to calm her down, she then made an awful song and dance about my getting back up. One of the other girls had to get off her horse to hold her so that I could get back up then she kindly walked alongside me on the ground till silly Kika settled further. We even went for a little trot (when my kindly helper was back on board her own horse) without issue, yet Kika still wouldn't stay settled. She started jigging and trotting in the spot, being really obnoxious. I sat it out and tried to weather the storm but it just got too much for me as I couldn't find a way to difuse the timebomb I was sitting on. So I hopped off again and walked her home.

Back at the yard we went straight into the arena for some propper ridden work, where low and behold she didn't put a toe out of line. She has never felt so good under me, it felt like we were floating/flying along lovely.
The Guru kindly offered to ride Nancy for me as I was so mad at Kika, I didn't want my mood to affect easy going N. So the pair of them joined us in the arena gor a quick school. Once done we decided to go for a walk around the outdoor 'arena' (huge field) to cool out as indoor was quite warm so both girls and us riders were quite sweatty.

Kika led the way into the field like the good girl she was pretending to be, but the further we got from the gate the more obnoxious she became again, she was predictably worse when the other horses that had been there proceeded to leave the arena. We kept walking till she calmed down, but as soon as she'd settle her pea brain she'd endeavour to find something else to set her off - cow.
So more schooling insued after she finally made good on her threats to rear, she took advantage of my being distracted trying to stop her walking on a man's dog who was near the exit when she snuck up on me. Thankfully she didn't scare me, just fuelled my anger which had dissipated after the good arena work but then came back with a vengeance afterher carry on when we got outside. Gargh, some days I just despair for us as she works herself into such a state. Needless to say she was soaked with sweat again once I'd managed to convince her to calm down enough to walk by the entrance a couple of times. Poor old Nancy stood there good as gold watching Kika's silly carry on, she really is a model young horse - almost inflapable...bar initial introduction to the sea.

Speaking of Nancy, she continues to impress. We made a return to the beach this morning and had no issues with going into the sea or indeed walking along in it. We even went for a trot and a canter, she is such a godsend when Kika pulls these tricks out of her repertoire of annoying habits.

My plan for this evening is to ride Kika in the arena and make our way back outdoors over the weekend. Our return to the beach is behaviour dependent and weather dependent as if the beach is going to be super crowded I am not going near it with Kika.
Also I am on my holidays and don't want to be stressing and getting into arguments with her potentially undoing all the good work we've done over the last 12-18months. If she's not yet zen enough for the beach and/or never is I don't care so long as I can still enjoy riding & working with her elsewhere.

Apologies for lack of photos with this post, but I had to get something up to docunent the ups and downs while on hols.