Gem Gets a Bad Rap

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”

- Albert Einstein

 

 

Were you ever the last one picked in gym class? The one who was nice enough and had a healthy dose of coordination, but for some odd reason the nerdy skinny kid with glasses or the Goth chick got picked before you? Well, that appears to be Gem.

 

She is sleek (or at least she used to be sleek and has the potential to be again) and gorgeous with a sweet personality with those who are not asking her to do any amount of work beyond that required to breathe and digest food. I've listed her bad traits often enough, but really she is a blast to ride. Her trot is just floating and I could sit on her all day long. I've even had compliments about how awesome her gaits are. I've never bothered to spend a bunch of time making her go annoyingly slow, because I don't mind zooming around the arena or trails. I'm sure that she would be a better riding horse if she had a better rider astride her. But we get along just fine, if a little unorthodox in style. We are having fun.

 

Apparently, that is not coming across to the barn peeps.

 

Monday night I got to chatting it up with the barn manager (BM) as I cleaned up after riding. She started asking about Wonder Boy (aka Pete) who everyone apparently just loves. Gag me. He is blonde and has a goofy, heart warming personality and the hubs and him soar around the arena and over jumps like it just aint no thang. Everyone wants to ride Pete. The hubs and I are pretty selfish with our horses. I ride Gem. He rides Pete. I think I've been on Pete a whole whopping 2 times in 3 1/2 years. He isn't my horse. The hubs only rides Gem when I force him to and the last was the R&T in May 2012. I think everyone there finds that odd, but we each have our own thing going and have learned and taught our respective horses their various tricks and bad habits. It works for us.

 

 

Well, the girls at the barn want a chance to ride Wonder Boy, so the BM tactfully and, with what she thought was diplomacy, guided the conversation to try to get me to offer up Pete for lessons. I'm not that stupid. I, not tactfully and with no diplomacy, forced her to just spit it out, so she got around to telling me that Pete would be great in her lesson program and was wondering (since the hubs rides so infrequently and the poor guy doesn't get groomed nearly enough) if we would be opposed to the idea of once a week having someone ride him. She went on about the benefits to Pete and the hubs and so forth. I told her that he isn't my horse, so she would have to talk to the hubs about it. I also told her that he rides 2 times a week which is more than I can ever remember him riding and that Pete could be groomed to an immaculate shine every day and he would still come in at night caked in grime. Its just the way he is. The only thing she failed to mention was how it would benefit us monetarily to use Pete in her lesson program from which she makes money. I may look young, but I've been around the block and I know that I should get money off my board or something for him being used. I didn't mention it though because I doubted the hubs would be up for it anyway.

 

Then I mentioned how a part of me would like to have the helping hand of someone riding Gem one day a week for her conditioning. It would give her 4 days a week of exercise and if something came up and I couldn't get out one night, it wouldn't be such a big deal. The BM just looked at me and then said "Pete sure would fit in well with the girls" What a slap in the face! My poor Gemmie!! Shot down without a second thought. The poor girl was just chosen last: after the fat geldings and the uppity mares, after the old senior citizen, heck even after the tire swing. Oh well. I don't trust anyone else enough to let them ride her anyway. So there.

 

 

In the end, I think the hubs said no. He is worried that Pete would get hurt and then what? Not only would he be hurt and the hubs out of a ride, but who would pay for it? And what if they decided they wanted to show him? They certainly wouldn't be doing that for free. Then we would have to draw up a lease contract and deal with the BS that that brings. Nope. Pete is doing just fine the way things are.

 

 

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