Stuck in the mud, head in the clouds

Yeah, truck's still stuck. It quit raining today, though, and I managed to "rock" it out of the deep slew it was in. Now it's just sitting at the bottom of a small hill which is still too slick to drive up. Either I'll get out on my own tomorrow, or K can come tow me out after she gets off work.

I was in a pretty glum mood after I got halfway unstuck, but I knew a ride would make me feel better. I actually got Champ completely saddled up. Then Dixie walked up and I thought about how I shouldn't ride her cause I wasn't 100% on my game, then I thought about how that's the reason she didn't get ridden much last year. And last spring, it wasn't a bad reason; she was pretty untrusting and spooky. But this spring? She's just spooky. Likes me just fine.

So I untacked Champ and held the halter out for Dixie. She stuck her head right in it and I knew I'd made the right decision. I gave her a cup of feed (I've switched to that Purina Ultium) and got her ready to go.

On the trail, she was particularly psycho. Would not listen to me, did nothing but try to evade the bit and rack as fast as possible down the slippery trails and jump anything in her path. I began to think that perhaps I hadn't actually made the right decision, and that we hadn't actually made any progress in the last year. We did about 2 miles in the woods, slipping often enough for me to really worry about hurting her. But dammit, I was not going to let her win this.

I took her out in the soybean field, where it's soggy but at least not slippery, and I let her go. You wanna go fast? Let's go, baby. We did two more miles in the field. I didn't even try to check her gait, just pointed her head away from home and gave her a little leg every time she wanted to slow down.

You know what? She has a really stupendously nice canter. Maybe it's not all that special, for all I know - Champ is actually the only other horse I've cantered on. Champ's canter really slings you back and forth. Maybe he catches a lot of air, or maybe he just stretches out? I don't know. I always end up riding it two-point. But Dixie, wheeee, it's beautiful. A little bit of back and forth and a little bit of up and down. I could sit that all day.

We racked or cantered all the way to one end of the field, then paused for a couple minutes, then went tearing back home. When we got near the end of the field I made her turn and rack out for a hundred yards, then turn and walk to the treeline. I guess she just needed a good run (or maybe she was just tired), because she actually flatwalked the whole rest of the way home for me.

And despite the fact that we "fought" most of the ride, despite the way I felt I haven't done a damn thing with this mare in a year... after I untacked her, she hung around and let me scratch her itchy head. For the don't-touch-me-i-don't-trust-you mare, that's a decent accomplishment.

Cersei, as always, went with us. She is stretched out under my feet snoring. :3