Mountain Trail Clinic: Drive Home

Wow, so this feels like it's in the ancient past, but the last couple of weeks have let me marinate on the whole trip with P and sort of marinate in what it means for us.

Sunday we skipped the little schooling show in an attempt to hit the road early.  The Boy had figured that since we needed to haul P home, then haul ourselves home, we have about a 10 hour day ahead of us on the road.  (that wasn't considering the inevitable "2 hour horse delay" that The Boy has decided should be factored on to any horse related event).

P was just as happy Sunday morning as she had been the entire time.  Eating, drinking, peeing and pooping all as she should while happily watching the world stroll by her stall.

The Boy and I went about watering and feeding then packing up the trailer as best we could. I know one is never as organized packing up to go home as when you pack up to leave, but my god.  Our "tack stall" had become a tangle of split reins, bailing twine and saddle pads.  Not for the OCD at heart.

I grabbed P and took her for one more big walk out through the fields and relished in her continued calm.  It seems so basic, but her presence of mind and confidence never ceased to be stunning to me.  I guess this means that when I have kids I'll probably be constantly amazed at their most basic accomplishments, but for P it felt big.

I guess for me it felt big.

Back in May it seemed like feeling totally comfortable and confident with her (even on the ground) in a new and scary situation was unobtainable.... But there we were. Calm as can be and happy.

headed home

We loaded P and May back up into my trailer and hit the road.  May was a little bit less thrilled with her back seat spot than she was on the way down and insisted on screaming and scrambling about every time the truck pulled to a stop  (which was frequent since we needed gas, McDonald's, a rest stop and then gas again on our way back).

But aside from May's protestations, the trip was quick, easy and uneventful (as they should be).  P arrived without breaking a sweat and walked off the trailer on her own without any unnecessary attempts to race back to her herd...

Watching P reintroduce into the herd was actually a pretty cool thing.  Her new BFF, May is much (much, much) higher on the totem pole than P is... Which begged the question, whether P's new alliance with May would improve her standing in the herd, or if upon returning home to the "cool kids" if May would ditch her again.  As soon as P hit the pasture, she calmly (though assertively!) walked back into the middle of the group and greeted her two closest buddies (the fat tiny pony, and a chubby QH named Charlotte).  A few moments later the Lead Mare made herself known and chased both P and May out of the group.  There was a brief "don't forget who runs this show" display that involved P and May taking a few laps around the property, before Mrs. Lead Mare let them settle again.

P resumed her place toward the outside of the group, but was meandering around without the sort of nervous jumpiness that she previously had.  Cowboy Man said that it's typical for the newer/nerdier horses to gain confidence from outings like this and that often it will predict them moving up the pecking order a few notches... interesting stuff.

The Boy and I just sat watching the group for a few more minutes.  P wandered over for one last treat and some water before trotting off with her friends and we finally loaded ourselves back in the truck for the last leg of our own drive.

All in all, I loved every second of the weekend.  I loved how great P was, I loved watching other Mountain Trail horses.  I loved having The Boy along for a horse infused weekend, I loved watching P work, I loved planning for an overnight pony adventure and I loved petting all the donkeys.  I just loved the whole thing.  It made me hungry for more and it made me patient regarding P and her progress.

Oh yeah, and I loved riding my horse again.

Also, the fact that The Boy is convinced that we now "need" to find ourselves a nice trailer with some living quarters? yeah.  I love that too.  The more our "shopping lists" can overlap, the better...

A girl can dream right?

Lover-Mare