Rose was one smart lookin' little horse. She shed out in the spring to a lovely red bay with metallic mahogany sheen to her coat, complete with dapples. Since she was too young to start riding yet, we took her everywhere and exposed her to as many things as we could. Trek a mile to the far pasture through creeks and uncertain footing? No problem! She splashed through water without a blink and scampered up rocky,slippery footing like a mountain goat. Squeeze yourself into a tiny, cramped, dark trailer? No problem! That little filly never had a problem loading and would walk right up into any trailer, any time, day or night! Did all this mean she was so quiet she would get bored and fall asleep or never gave us any kind of problems? Hell no, she was after all still a youngster and was known to spook at things and act up now and then. But I always got the feeling that when she spooked at something, it was only to see how WE would react and to see just what she could get away with.
Since she wasn't old enough to ride and nearly everyone at our farm showed, I was dying to get out there and show as well. We started in simple halter classes and moved on to showmanship once she got a little more experienced. She always did well, she always placed...maybe not always won but she was almost always in the top 3. It was a lot of fun but man was I itching to get up on her! When she turned 3 we introduced her to the bridle and she chewed at the snaffle bit for maybe 10 minutes then ignored it completely. We walked her around, took the bridle off, put it back on, and walked and trotted her around the arena for a bit until she was well used to it. Later that day I was grazing her in one of the smaller paddocks and I led her over close to the fence...can you see where this is going? I clambered up the fence and positioned myself next to my little horse. She watched me out of the corner of her eye but since there was nice green grass to munch on, she didn't move. I scratched her withers a bit then got up the nerve and leaned across her back. She snorted and gave a half-hearted buck, more out of surprise I think than anything else. I slid off and gave her a scratch, my way of apologizing for startling her. I never tried it again after that day, just longingly stared at that broad back of hers and tried to be patient...I wasn't the most patient of people in those days!
Six months later my mother walked into my room and declared the horse should be old enough to be riding by now. Seems she was even more impatient than I was...of course her impatience was because she seemed to be paying for an object that wasn't being used to it's full potential, nevermind that it was too young to be used to it's full potential! We had bought a nice used western saddle from a tack sale the month before and I was dying to try it on her. Looking back I'm not really sure why we hadn't taken it out and gotten Rose accustomed to it before, I just remember it sitting in our basement for a month and that I used to go down and hop on it and pretend I was riding...I'm sure we've all done that at least once in our lives. I lugged the saddle upstairs and we all loaded up and headed to the barn. I don't remember having any butterflies or being nervous although I know I had to have been!
We got to the barn a little later than usual, nearly everyone else had come and gone so the place was almost empty. I decided to introduce Rose to the saddle while still in her stall, just in case she went crazy. Isn't that what all horses do when you first saddle them up? You tighten the girth and they all buck around like crazy for a while right? A picture kept looping around in my 15 yr old mind, I'd tighten up Rose's girth and she would start broncing around like she was rodeo bound! I showed her the saddle blanket, rubbed her neck and back with it then tossed it over her withers. No problem! I brought in the saddle and again, I let her sniff it and get a good look at it then placed it slowly on her back. She looked back at it but that was about it. I slowly lowered the cinch and stirrup on the other side so they wouldn't bang against her barrel and startle her. I reached under her belly, grabbed the cinch, took a deep breath and then started to tighten it up. I pulled the cinch until it was touching her belly, no problem! I pulled a little tighter, still no problem! She kept one ear flicked back in my direction and the other out the front of her stall, she seemed much more interested in a fellow boarder who was grooming her horse in the aisle than to what I was doing. So I tightened the girth completely and stepped back...waiting for the inevitable explosion...
It never came. I thought to myself, once she moves and realizes this thing is strapped to her back, she'll start bucking. Nope, she moved around her stall, got a drink from her bucket, walked around...nothing. So, getting braver, I brought her out of the stall and into the arena. Sister grabbed the lounge line and clipped it to her halter just in case she went mental, that way we'd have a nice long lead to hang on to. Nope, nothing! Rose meandered around like she had been wearing a saddle every day of her short life. I stopped her in the middle of the arena and Sister and I gave her lots of pats and scratches. I looked over at Sister, looked back at my newly saddled horse...Sister grinned as I grabbed the stirrup, stuck in my foot, stepped straight up and balanced there. Rose took a little step sideways, that was it. So I swung my foot across her back and slowly sank myself into the saddle. Both of Rose's ears immediately swiveled back towards me, I kicked both feet out of the stirrups and once again braced for the explosion. Once again, it never came. Rose simply sighed, turned her head and nosed at my foot as if to say "what is this doing here?" and that was all she ever did. No bucking, no rodeo display...nothing. I wish they all could have been like Rose. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her, her hoofprints are forever embedded in my heart.
