Away We Go...

So today started out good...Gidget is getting better by the day. We can now take her halter off at night and walk up to her and re-halter the next day. She'll stand for grooming and saddling, and we can stand in the stirrups - but we just can't muster the courage to swing that leg over yet! Anyway, after our grooming session, Mary and Jenn wanted to take the girls on a walk around the property and down the long driveway. I was kind of hesitant about going out the gate, but they insisted the mares would be fine. "They'll just run home if something happens" is the comment I got. So there we went, the girls leading the mares and me on trusty Roxanne following behind. Everything is cool, we walk to the end of the long road/driveway and on the way back stop to talk to a friendly Paint horse who's turned out in the neighboring arena. His owner is on her way to work, so she stops her car and gets out to say hi. Turns out she and Jenn know each other from the Paint horse circuit, so they're chatting about shows and such, when all of a sudden Gidget spooks at something, pulls the rope out of Mary's hands and takes off - not towards home, but out to the street - Gee, didn't I say something about that? So Mary takes off after her, I follow on Roxanne (who has a slight case of ringbone and can't really be ridden too much or too hard) chasing this crazy mare. Of course she can't take the horse trail on the side of the road, she's gotta go right out into the street! Luckily it's not a busy one, even so we had to be a sight - Mary running on foot, me on my gimpy Rox running down the trail trying to get ahead of her to cut her off, and Gidgie trotting down the middle of the road. We finally cornered her in someone's driveway, and led her uneventfully back to her stall. Maybe the girls will listen to my elder wisdom from now on - but I'm betting not.

But on the good side, I can now play with her forelock and scratch her forehead without her getting cranky - so we are making great progress there. Hopefully we will be riding by next weekend.