Nova’s Notebook – Humbling Trailer Loading!

Yep, that’s what horses do!

I took Nova on her on her first trail ride today at James A Reed Park.  Hope was kind enough to ride with me.  When we first arrived at the park, a woman came over ..enthralled with Nova’s beauty.  Of course I bragged about her just a smidgeon. 

For the record, Nova did great on the trail.  Hope and Jazz were good partners to start my trail riding experience with Nova!

The woman was still there when we got back..still enthralled. So, I couldn’t resist bragging. I have both Velvet’s ribbons and Nova’s Celebration ribbons hanging in the horse trailer.  I opened the door and gestured to the ribbons..some of them were Nova’s. But I didn’t tell the woman that.  Of course she assumed all the ribbons were Nova’s. I’ll never see this woman again..what could it hurt.  I would guess that I might have sinned a bit here.

We got the saddle off and had our treats.  I rubbed Nova’s wet back….chat chat chat with the woman.  I was feeling pretty smug.

Then I bragged “Now you are going to see what trailer loading should be like!”  I lined Nova up wiht the trailer door, pointed and threw my rope over her back as she started to get into the trailer.  Then Nova backed out and refused to get into the trailer.   For the first time in forever, she balked at walking into the trailer.  I couldn’t believe it.  It took me about 10 – 15 minutes to load her while the woman stood there and watched me. 

She told me that I should give Nova a verbal command to get into the trailer. “LOAD UP”, I said.  Of course I did this with great tolerance.  We laughed at how well that worked.  Then the woman suggested I get into the trailer with a scoop of grain to bribe her in.  I just love suggestions when loading my own horse in her own trailer…NOT!
I only seethed a little bit…after all, I was being humbled.

 This time I chatted about patience, not loosing your temper and being ready to spend two days loading a horse into the trailer!

You should never brag about your horse because they know then exactly how to humble you. Maybe you shouldn’t mislead people about how many ribbons your horse won. 

Horses Humble People!  Nova finally did relent and let us return home.

The Next DAY at James A Reed Park

I discovered the woman is a volunteer at the park because she came out right as I pulled in today.  She told the woman I was with today all about the trailer loading episode yesterday. She did say that she learned much about patience, so that was positive.
That woman will probably be there everytime I pull into the park on
weekends. Maybe it’s a good thing hunting season is looking us in the
face.

grrrrr