Owning a horse demands huge amounts of patience. I admit, it’s hard for me, as an inherently impatient person. Still, I have learned to control myself and to be patient with Talo, which seems to have worked, generally speaking. He’s much less spooky, he works well and willingly, he behaves himself most of the time and he is the best horse ever.

Then come days like today. They are rare, but they exist. We’ve been having mounting issues for ages. It’s been like that ever since Talo was young. He will stand still, but starts to trot the second you sit (sometimes the second before), which is, of course, super dangerous and annoying. I have been working on the issue with him, and there was an improvement, but today was TERRIBLE. He sprinted out, stumbled and almost fell, and was stressed all over. I tried dismounting and mounting in the arena, and after many tries, I somehow managed to get a semi-decent mount out of him. Of course, the drama only makes him more nervous, and it affects me, too – I now get scared when I need to mount him. I don’t want to fall or get injured again, and this is a risky situation.

Talo made me angry and very frustrated today, to the point I actually considered stopping the ride altogether, and maybe even letting him go. To make matters worse, the most annoying rider in the stables, which I really HATE, started screaming about how unsafe he is and how terrible it is, and she pissed me off even more. I really hate the bitch, regardless. Anyway, this didn’t improve my mood, to say the least. Talo was annoying after the ride, too, but after some stern corrections, he became much more docile, and we ended the day on a nice, sweet note. He gave me lots of kisses, too – gentle ones. It was as if he felt he crossed a line. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just imagining stuff.

Tomorrow is a new day. I hope things get better. He’s truly a wonderful horse, and this issue is not his fault. I guess I’ll go back to square one of working with him at the block. Hopefully I can get him to relax a bit more.