"How happy are you about that?" my friend asked me as I stepped off of Walking With Wolves (aka Little Wolf) after the NRHA approved three-year-old Futurity at Prince George Fall Slide.
It was a rhetorical question. She knew I was happy because she knew what I expected of him, but she may not have guessed how emotional I was as well. As I backed Little Wolf up, the last maneuver of reining pattern #5, I had leaned forward, wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him. I had felt tears welling up - this three-year-old, this playful, mischievous, not-always-fun-to-ride stallion, had just given me 100% of his attention for the past five minutes. He was "with me" every step of the way - he waited when I wanted to wait, he loped into clean lead departures when I asked, he circled, he changed leads, he spun and he stopped - exactly when I asked. My heart had swelled when I ran down for the last stop. My Little Wolf, my 'let's see what I can get away with', immature colt, had executed a really pretty reining pattern just because (no other reason) I asked him to!
It's no secret I love my horses, but Little Wolf was a little harder to love than most. He is a stallion, which makes disciplining mandatory, and he tested me - every day. After months of training and coping with his pranks, I finally figured out he likes to test me. He's smart, almost too smart, and he tests me just to see if I am paying attention. He pulls blankets off of racks when I walk him through the barn; he reaches around and grabs the end of the rein in his mouth if I stand in the arena teaching off of him; he unseated three times when he was two by laying down to roll (the first time he just forgot I was on him and rolling in the snow seemed like a good idea. After that he thought it was fun to lose me.) For many months, Little Wolf was not fun to ride because I never knew what he would do next ( Thank goodness he didn't learn bucking worked!) . . . and I never had anywhere near all of his attention! One day, though, well into his three-year-old year, I realized I loved this animal - in spite of, and maybe because of, his quirky personality.
What I hadn't learned about Little Wolf was that he would like the show pen - that, even thought he rarely blessed me with all of his attention in a schooling session, he was happy to do that at a show. Who would have guessed? Certainly not me...
And that is why I almost cried at the end of my run on Little Wolf at Prince George. My pretty bay stallion did not win anything that day, but he gave me exactly the run I asked him for. How happy was I about that? I was thrilled!
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