The Horse Husband

I saw this photo on FB and thought that it would make the best Christmas present for Ed:

see- it's perfect for my female horse friends. You're welcome :)

Ed has been the most supportive of husbands of my horse passion hobby but he really came into his own when we moved to our farm. He repairs, mows, paints, feeds, mucks out and listens when I recount the details of my latest ride.

He enjoys the horses and interacting with them.
Ed: I've taught the horses a trick
Me: Oh?
Ed: Yes. When I'm in the garden they have learned to come to the fence and get a carrot. Yesterday they came three times! 
Me: mmm. that is good training! (note that I didn't say who was training whom. I get points for that right?)

as long as they are all happy I guess it doesn't matter

Ed also is a great person to sack out your horse. But you have to understand that he doesn't really know that he's doing it so you have to be ready. Ed is very task focussed- when he's on a task he doesn't always stop to think that it might be spooky to the horses.

Here's a story to help illustrate my point.

Carmen has been in heat for the past few days. She's not at a point in her training where I can truly tell that there is a difference in her when she's in heat- she's more easily distracted and reactive. Which means that I have to be on my game. The last two rides have been good but she's needed to be managed in the warm up so that she can focus on the work at hand and not spiral.

This morning I got her ready to ride. My plan was to work on transitions and having them back to front. She has a great little booty and needs to learn how to use it. I also wanted to work on straightness. As I headed out of the barn I could hear an ATV up by the ring. People have been out on their ATVs and I figured that people were riding on the next property. But when I came up the hill I could see that it was our ATV. Ed had it up there and was painting the boards in the ring. He was letting it run to recharge the battery.

I figured that this was good- I could work on her getting used to more distractions. I just asked him to move it out of the ring and carry on. He said that he was almost done and was just finishing up. I got on Carmen and she immediately noted the following:
1. the old horse blanket that was over the rail was now draped over the upside down wheelbarrow. Carmen does not trust the wheelbarrow so with the blanket it was doubly dubious.
2. there was a small metal container in the ring and was likely a bomb or some such thing (it was the paint can)
3. some weeds by the ring were now in bloom.

All of this would have made riding impossible before. But now it just made it more tight. I ensured that my aids were clear and worked on keeping her mind busy. Keeping her mind busy requires many changes of directions and asks so that she doesn't have a chance to worry about other things.  I let her come over to see what Ed was up to. She stood there like a trained horse. I then noticed that he was standing on the circle of death  hula hoop that is filled with sand. He was standing on it so that it was upright. I've done a lot of work with Carmen with this but I didn't want a blow up.
Ed, can you be careful that you don't accidentally rattle that hula hoop? 
Huh, what? 
As he asked this he moved his foot and the hula hoop fell, rattling loudly, to the ground.
Carmen spooked in place- all four feet rattled but she didn't move her position. What the heck is he doing now?! 
I had to laugh and I gave her a big pat for being so awesome. After that I decided that neither one of us had to worry about Ed or other things. We went to work and Ed finished up and left.

Ed says that he has no interest in riding. But I wonder if I just found the right horse.......

from our trip to Arizona this April