Was planning on riding spirit tonight but got caught in traffic and didnt get home till after 6:30 so I figured I can't go back Leland's tonight, sunset is at 7:10pm. Then I thought, wait a minute, you have a helmet light sitting on your dresser gathering dust....never used...and you've got an ENDURANCE ride in thee weeks! So, still all fluffed up from my great trip to Virginia, I tacked the boy up, and headed down Leland's. Warmed him up for the first quarter mile (driveway) then hitched him into a canter and cantered the 1.25 miles to the end of Leland's. Was planning on cantering back but spirit was pretty bossy so I thought I'd walk/trot him to remind him who is boss and there was a problem....it wasnt getting dark enough for the helmet light to be effective! here I was all pumped up, and...nothing. So, we cantered back to the trees a few times. Finally about the third time back, spirit noticed the light! I had read that helmet lights can scare a horse until they get used to them, and oh yeah the books are right. He went from a canter into a stop that would do a reining horse proud. Holy mackeral. All my bluster was gone. He was scared and I was scared. He made it through all the scary things created by the lights ( dog eyeballs being the hardest for him to handle) and so did I. Next time it will be a little easier, it always is. Tonight we survived. Tonight we got one step closer to being a real endurance team.
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