This fat furry little creature took me out for a ride today, after I made a big fuss of the other two in the field before greeting her. She had herded them all down to the furthest corner upon seeing me enter the field, but apparently she did have plans for the day involving tack, as she was happy to be haltered, and happy to be saddled, and once I was on board, she was very happy to head out over the road.
I had been planning on going up the big hill again, and had consequently left her on the buckle, as she usually turns left and goes around the perimeter of what is now the sand mine field, bringing us to the big hill gates. Today, she went right, ignored my very subtle suggestion that we go left, and marched us up to the yard, down the driveway, and over the road, largely on the buckle, ears pricked, doing this all of her own accord, while I sat there and asked her where on earth she was going.
We had three nice trots in the second field and the butterfly field; they were not perfect, but Abba had brakes and self control, and I had some bravery for once, and the ability to lift my hands to follow her head when she stuck her nose in the air. She suggested canter a few times, I said no thanks, and she said okay, and kept trotting.
In the butterfly field, when we came to the crossroads, she took the right-hand road, to my astonishment, which runs below the reservoir to the gates of the humpbacked hill. I thought she might be using it to scale the reservoir bank from the other side, but no, she was using it to make a loop to go home, without stopping for a snack break, as the reservoir is currently full of water and not grass, which she evidently remembered from our last ride to it.
She was very good all the way home, sticking to the walk with only a few attempts to jog; in the second field, she insisted on multiple small snack breaks, as there is some lovely grass, possibly eragrostis, growing on the unploughed verges, and as she had been so wonderful, who was I to deny her?
I hopped off at the gates of the first field, and walked the last kilometre back on foot, as usual, which was much needed, as I am pulling up through my right hip and quads, and consequently putting strain on the hip flexor. Abba went past the cottages quietly, which she has not done in ages, and was happy to pose for bad photos after the ride. I can't tell if she's finally over seeing shrimp colours on the pergolide, or if she just didn't get much pergolide while failing to eat her lunch and will go back to being a terror to ride, or if this was a once-off. I can say that today I was finally confident that she did get her pergolide, as she came close to licking her tub clean.
It was a good ride in many ways, and has also put the rides of the last year and a bit into perspective: yes, the pergolide altered Abba's behaviour to the point that our rides were almost never fun for me, as her brain was three feet out in front of her and she was permanently hurrying to catch it up. A ride like today has become increasingly rare. I admit that I am concerned that today's keenness to work tempered by self-control is due to her being unwell thanks to how little pergolide she has had all month. Nevertheless, I am very grateful to have had this ride, where I could sit back and let Abba make almost all the decisions with confidence that she her choices would be good. When she and I are in harmony with each other, we both get so much more out of our rides.
