Who say's you need snow for ski joring?

So we finally had our first disagreement. Rose has been doing so well, I guess I got a bit cocky. She longes, she ties, she loves being groomed, she leads like a champ, so I figured I'd see how she was about the hose.

She was actually a really good pony at first. Led right into the wash rack, snorted and puffed at the hose when I turned it on but stood nicely. Let me hose her front near hoof and up her leg to her shoulder. I should have left it there, but hey hindsight is 20/20. As I said, I pushed it to far and tried hosing her hind end. Who knew such a big horse could move so fast? :)

This is where the ski joring comes in. Have you heard of ski joring? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f0AnFDa8X4 so imagine that, with a 1700 pound Belgian, on asphalt, repeatedly. OK, can I just say I'm STILL a little sore.

Anyway, the lesson of the day quickly became "do not drag the trainer". I'm amazed that I actually managed to hold on. Of course while I was hanging onto the last 6 inches of the lead rope, squashed up against a galloping butt the thought running through my head repeatedly was "please don't kick out, please don't kick out, please don't kick out..." So I added the chain back into the mix and it didn't do much good. I just wasn't able to get enough slack to correct her so we made several more trips out of the wash rack and down the barn aisle. Finally I added the longe line and that did the trick. It gave me enough room that I was able to stop her more quickly each time until she stopped trying it and led and stood where I asked her to go. So the next week or so, I will reintroduce the hose, this time in different locations and more slowly.

The good news is that she was pretty good about it, no panic and no kicking, no meanness at all. Just get the heck out of Dodge, and she has now learned that that isn't an option. All in all a good lesson to learn early on. I'll tell, her size certainly played into it. I've delt with some pretty big beasties, but nothing felt quite like this! It felt a bit like being towed by a small car!