During the next couple of weeks Tequila continued to challenge me both in the sand school and in the stable. In the school she still refused to lunge or go away from my side, or to venture to the top of the school. In the stable a power struggle started over the door. She decided that she owned the door to her stable and that I was not worthy of using it. She absolutely refused to step back from it and in fact shoulder barged it if I tried to make her step back.
I had ridden her in the school and out on hacks but her behaviour was leaving a bit to be desired in that she was absolutely freaking out if we met any traffic. It got to the point where if we had to ride on a road (and we live in the middle of no-where with very little traffic) then I would get off and lead her. Then on one occasion a large white van was coming towards us and she went on high alert. Mike placed Tommy in front of her but she couldn't cope and all and spun round and after knocking me to the ground she tried to gallop off dragging me behind her. I was shaken and so was she. I managed to hold onto her but it really put the wind up both of us. Mike was furious, I had been hurt before by horses and he was very afraid that I was going to be hurt again. I was crying and he was adamant, she was not the horse for me, I was in danger and she had to go.
What a mess!! I was scared now, I didn't want her to go but I am not a brave rider and I am not capable of dealing with a spooky traffic shy horse. If I was going to be scared of her how could I progress. When I was looking for a horse to buy one of the major requirements was that it hacked out alone and in company and it was good in traffic.
For a week or so Tequila got turned out into the field whilst I considered my options. Susan came over and we had a second on the ground session where she again watched us together and also talked me through dealing with her. We still couldn't get her to go more than about 2' away from my side. I told Susan that Mike was pushing me to sell her on and to get something more reliable but I had told him that if she went I was giving up riding. At this time Bentley was in one of his sound periods and I was able to hack him out on the roads in total security and comfort which brought home to me just how scary she was.
I decided to have some basic ridden lessons with Susan to try and improve my relationship with Tequila but to be honest I was struggling to get the courage to actually get on her. Susan came over and as I was tacking her up outside the barn the postman arrived at our gate in his van. As he pulled up at the postbox Tequila just totally lost it and pulled back breaking the string on her rope. I was in the process of putting her bridle on and as she tried to bolt away I was only just able to hold her and get her back under control. Susan was shocked by how she reacted to a car on the other side of the gate and how extreme her reaction was. I was glad she had seen it because I am sure that people thought I was exaggerating. Once tacked up we went into the school for our first ridden lesson.
For an hour Susan took us right back to basics. My seat, hands, feet, head, bottom, knees, calves, chest and back all got attention as she gently molded us into some semblance of a rider. I thought I knew how to walk a horse but I was soon to learn I didn't. We never went out of halt and walk and by the end of it every muscle in my body hurt. We still couldn't get out of the bottom end of the school because of the pigs but at least I was riding. Another problem was coming to light now though and that was that Tequila was a habitual headshaker. Every time I let the contact drop she would fling her head up. Susan talked me through flexing her from left to right just to try and break the cycle. If I could distract her she was better but it was very annoying and her idea of taking the contact down and forward was to fling her head up and and then out and down so snatching the reins out of my hands.
We had such a lot of work to do.
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