Friday, March 27, 2009

Ranger Danger!


In my previous entry I shared my experience of getting my first horse. I had high hopes of having a special relationship with my horse. I had seen how much my sister enjoyed her horse, and I wanted to have a special horse just like she did. I guess I set myself up for a let down because I set my standards pretty high.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the kind of relationship with Ranger that I expected to have. At first Ranger was really sweet and lovable, but after about a year, things seemed to change. We shared a lot of different experiences that only made it harder for me to like him.

One night my sister and I decided to go riding. We were at the stage where I wanted to do everything like her and it drove her crazy. Since she didn’t enjoy me riding with her and I didn’t like to go as fast as she did, she rode ahead of me. Ranger decided he was going to be scared of the round bales in the field. So there I was, in the middle of the field by myself, and I couldn’t get Ranger to go anywhere. I rode around in circles for quite some time before my sister came back. As soon as she showed up, Ranger walked right past the round bales like nothing had ever happened.

Another problem I found in Ranger was that he liked to bite. My horse and my sister’s horse would sometimes bite each other. Unfortunately the biting didn’t stop there. One afternoon I was in Ranger’s pin petting him. I thought he was enjoying it. I was feeling fairly generous so I gave Ranger a slice of hay and continued to pet him. He had his head down eating his hay, and before I knew it, he looked at my leg and bit me. He bit my right on my shin, and unfortunately I was wearing shorts so there was nothing to protect me leg.

I wasn’t the only person Ranger bit. The other incident where Ranger bit someone was also completely unexpected. My dad and brother were inside the horses’ pin putting up some installation. It was cold outside and both my dad and brother were wearing quite a few layers. My brother was bent over working, and I guess Ranger saw a perfect opportunity because he walked right up and bit my brother on the butt.

Luckily with all the layers my brother was wearing it didn’t hurt him at all. This also gave us reason to laugh and not feel bad about it. My brother wasn’t a huge fan of horses before this incident, and needless to say, Ranger didn’t exactly help my brother like horses any more.

The older Ranger got he only seemed to like me less. I decided it was time to sell him, and try to find a better horse. I thought I wouldn’t miss him at all once I sold him, but as it turns out, when the time came to sell him I was a little sad. Even though he was hard to handle at times, I guess he’ll always be special to me because he was my first horse.

1 comment:

  1. Ok, so now I feel a little dumb for wishing you two luck >.<

    That aside, this was another good entry. I always enjoy reading or hearing about other people's horse stories. Chances are you can learn something from them.

    It is also never easy to sell a horse, no matter how mean or rude they are (I've been there too!) My old mare had the about the same mannerisms as Ranger did, and even though the horse I bought after her is perfect(not really..but I love him) I still miss her at times, but I just have to remind myself of her attitude. -_-'

    Sorry it didn't work out with you two, and I hope you can find that special bond in another horse!

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