I took Echo out for a hack today, thinking it would be a nice time for her to relax and not have to work hard. However, our new hacking partner was somewhat lively and shying at everything, which put them both on edge a little. On our second canter, we had reached a lovely long sandy track, where you can really get a good stretch of canter. The other horse was a little bit ahead of us, as she was very energetic and going quite fast in all her paces. When she went into canter, Echo realised that she was quite far behind and charged off, trying to catch up. However, the horse in front was going at quite a speed, and Echo couldn't catch up, which clearly annoyed her greatly! She stuck her head down and bucked several times, then continued to charge off with me! I was shouting to my friend to stop, as I had absolutely no control at this point. When she did, we ended up cantering past her for a few strides.
I was a little concerned for a while, but then thought about what had happened and realised that altogether, it had just been a bit too much for her to handle. Her friend was obviously very fired up and this was having rather an effect on her brain! We spent a long time in walk, then had a couple more steady trots and another canter, where we went at a very sensible speed. I think she has started to think that cantering on hacks means going very fast, so steady steady steady for a while until I have brakes again!
She is being clipped tomorrow - fingers crossed for us!
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