Abby was one of Steph's homebreds. When I first started riding her, she was not very strong, and incredibly locked up on the left rein. She had the tiniest little pony trot when she'd first start out, and occasionally she'd pull so hard on the left rein that I thought my arm was going to fall off. However, Abby taught me to let go. When she started hauling on my arm like a team of oxen, I learned to just release the contact and apply leg to keep her straight. She was also a fantastic horse for no-stirrup work [most of the time]. Once I learned her trick on the left rein, I actually quite enjoyed her on the flat, and was able to really work on myself when I rode her, because mostly, she was quite lovely and super uncomplicated. Even more fun was jumping Abby.
Abby inherited her mother's clever, clever jumping style. She would jump from anywhere and save your butt if need be. She was also incredibly quiet and steady to the fences, which really allowed me to sort out how I was tackling my rounds. The only tough part with her was that she naturally liked to go around a bit low in front, so I really had to pay attention through the turns and bump her up to get the balance right. This was especially good for me, as I was pretty good at the "post-jump coffee break", where I would just kind of let the horse cruise for a few strides. I think I got into this habit because of the fact that Dusty and Kess didn't need much management between fences. Dusty needed half-halts before the fences, and Kess was one of the most uncomplicated horses to jump in the world. On him, I mostly just had to not screw up and keep a positive attitude.
I'm not sure that I've mentioned it on here before, but Abby is also the horse who wrecked my ankle while I was in Florida. We were cross-country schooling at Rocking Horse, and I was riding miss Abby. Of course, spring was in the air, and everyone was feeling a bit cheeky. Abby was feeling like a herdbound cow. Steph asked me to go jump a little [tiny] log as a warm up, and it was away from the group of horses to my right. Well. Abby decided that she did not want to jump that log because her friends were over there!!!!!! The first time, she just kind of muscled through my outside aids and ran right. The second time, I closed the right door hard, and in response, Abby dropped that right shoulder and then, somehow bolted to the right. Well, I apparently continued in a forward trajectory and flew over her right shoulder, but my right ankle got stuck in the stirrup [this is a guess] and I tweaked it as I fell over. I then somehow fell underneath her, and she kicked me square in the face with a hind leg as she hurdled me. I just remember my first thought being "my face!" and clutched where she kicked me as I tried to get up. However, as soon as I got up, I fell right back down because I was not load-bearing on my ankle. At this point, Abby was reaking havoc around Rocking Horse, and if memory served, someone else then got dumped and we had two loose horses.
Poor Sitka had to sit on the trailer all day for nothing because Abby was my first ride and there was no one to get on Sitka later.
As you may have guessed, Abby was, occasionally, a problem child. Here are a few of my favorite examples:
1. Abby and I were out for a hack with Jesse and Abby's brother, Abbett. As we walked down the road, a dog started barking at us. Abby did not like dogs. She started to get a little worried, and stopped in the middle of the road. As I was trying to coax her forward, a car started coming down the road towards us. Abby lost her marbles, went straight up in the air, and ran across the road on her hind legs at the car. She then hit the ground again, and did the rest of the hack on a looped rein.
2. Steph was sitting on Abby in the dressage warm-up at Rocking Horse. She had just finished her ride and was waiting on me to go. Well, Abby apparently decided that she'd had enough, and did a lovely capriole across the warm-up arena. She was asked to leave.
3. Steph and I were out for a hack, going to the farm next door for a jump school. Steph was on Abby and I was on Sitka. I'm not sure what happened, but when we hit the driveway, Abby took off, and I just remember Steph turning around in the tack, laughing, and saying "I can't stop her!"
For as terrible as she was as a young'un, though, she is now going INtermediate with her new owner.
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