Crazy Horse

I went out to the barn Tuesday night. One of their mares, Walkeure (the W is pronounced like V, and we call her "Val"), was scheduled to go to a Keuring the next day, which is basically a ratings test of sorts for breeding. Normally you only see mares, stallions, and foals--rarely geldings. The ratings are pointless for a gelding unless, I suppose, if you want to sell him. Or for bragging rights I guess.

Anyway, so I put Wal in the crossties to bathe her to get her ready for stardom the next morning. She watched me intently as I gathered everything--shampoo, brush, hose. I turned the hose on, and started at the legs to get her acclimated to the cool water. I hadn't seen the wrath of Wal yet, so she took me by surprise when, seemingly out of nowhere, she started flinging herself around in the crossties. I began talking to her in a low voice to get her calmed down, but when she flung her body back against the crossties holding her, I got the hell out of there. I was worried for her, but worried for myself first. I realized the hose was still running, and turned it off, thinking the sound of air coming through the hose scared her (makes a faint popping sound). I continued talking to her, but she wouldn't stop flinging herself around and pulling against the crossties. I was really worried she was going to get loose, or worse, flip herself upside down and break something, but I couldn't get close enough to her to unlatch the crossties.

Then, suddenly, she just stopped. I stood there for a minute, not particularly wanting to get closer until I was sure she was done with her little temper tantrum. She was still wild-eyed and breathing heavily, so I kept talking to her, my heart racing, and then went to her head. I wasn't too keen on turning the water on again, but it had to be done, and I didn't want to go back to Susan, telling her I couldn't do it, haha. I waited a few minutes for her to calm down, and sloooowly turned the water on. I talked to her the entire time, and she flicked her ears in my direction. Every now and then, she'd start pulling back on the crossties, and I would turn the water off again, and she'd be fine. Once she dried off, Susan (Richard's wife) helped me put a blanket on her, and I led her back to her stall. Once again with the firecrackers. That mare was wound up tight! She pranced around me in a circle, and I gave the lead rope a few quick, sharp tugs. We walked further a little bit, and again, she pranced around me, getting faster, pulling the lead rope out of my hands until I was practically lunging her. I figured the best thing for both of us would be to let her free (we were already in the pasture leading to her stall, so all I had to do was shut a gate). So I let go of the lead rope, and she took off into her stall.

Guess the trade-off to her good looks is that she's a damn psycho.