Reunited.

As you know, the BigRedHorse and I have been separated for almost a year now. I recently moved him to my hometown in Indiana. There was good reason for this. I have relocated. I made it to town late Saturday (26Nov) night and went to visit my BRH the next morning. I was unable to ride him BC it was FREAKING FREEZING outside and rainy.

I did return a few days later to climb aboard the fire breathing dragon.  I searched for all the tack that has been packed away and remember all the good times that was associated with it. I knew that this would be a short ride BC of how out of shape he would be, but I didn't care. To feel him under me would for just a few minutes would be all worth it.

I decided it would be wise to use the elevator since it would be his first ride with me in almost a year. I would probably need some brakes.

I took my time brushing and saddling him. It was like I had never left. He was behaved and polite. He enjoyed the rub down. I made a mental note to buzz the mane off ASAP. As I was finishing brushing him I inspected his tail. For those of you who know me and my tail fetishes--you may want to sit down. I knew and prepared myself for a tangled mess, what I didn't prepare myself for is a knotted rats nest.

I almost fell over and had a heart attack. My artwork that I had worked so hard on for years to grow out and bang. The beautiful glossy tail that was a masterpiece was now a bundled, knotted ball of protein. I slowly backed away and tried not to look back. I will be investing in some sort of lubricant (WD40, I was advised) to fix this problem on the next half-way decent warm day.

After I got over the mess we will refer to as "the embarrassment" I put his bridle on and attempted to get on. I say attempted BC the BRH seem to have forgotten that we stand still for mom to get on. No worries....he was quickly reminded.

I was prepared. I fully expected him to be the fire breathing dragon with bucking on the first ride. To my surprise he wasn't. We walked and talked about the past year, filling in the blanks. It felt great to feel his feet move under me, I could feel his muscles work. I could feel his back engage and disengage. I could definitely tell he was out of shape, but Olly seemed to think otherwise. It was almost like he wanted to pick up where we had left off. I could feel the want.

 
I asked him for a trot. He picked it up with ease, but easily fell out of form. I didn't worry about it, I was just happy to be near him again. We trotted for about a 100 yards before the BRH started to snort and cough. And I realized that my posting was a bit tiring too.We broke to a walk. I let him recover, which was a lot faster than I had expected. I didn't have my GPS with me, but I will be charging it. We have a lot of work to do. After recovering I wanted to see how the canter was. The que's were a bit rusty, but he did get the correct lead. It only took about 5 strides before he was pulling on the bit. I resisted to let him go. We were on a safe sandy drive, but the first ride in almost a year, not the smartest thing. I was however, completely surprised that he didn't buck what-so-ever. I whoa-ed him to a walk and we turned around to head back.

Looking down the lane on the way home he started to get excited. Ears perked and feet barely touching the ground. I kept telling him he would be sore tomorrow if he didn't relax, but he wouldn't listen. I let him do another canter set, recover and then a trot set. He seemed content as did I. It was great to be with him again.
We made it back to the barn. Our ride was only about 20 minutes, but I didn't want to push too much. It was more about being with him, than actually doing anything. I think I spent longer brushing him and talking to him than I did riding him. I missed him more than I even realized.