Personality conflict? or just jackassery?

I saw one of the strangest things tonite--I rode Radar to meet the neighbor on her horses and he was acting a tad squirrelly from the time he came out of the pasture. He did not want saddled, and he most definitely did not want his left ear touched. He did not want to not throw his head around like a loon every once in a while, and he did not want to keep all four on the floor sometimes. That was a fly issue, I think, as he always simmered when the buzzing went away.

However, he had a full on altercation with the neighbor's mare. I mean FULL ON. I have never seen such a display of jackassery from him. He was already mad for no reason at all, when he actually tried to strike at one of the other mares. He got lined out over that and then he was normal again. We went on for a while and all was fine, until it was time to cross a thing the other mare did not want to cross. As we tried to turn around in a narrow area, that mare backed into him, and it was a good enough hit that he was almost knocked off his feet. It was not a malicious move at all, she is just a big honking horse and was being evasive with her own issues... probably did not even know he was there. Radar did not take kindly to it at all. To say the least.

You know how I know? Because he immediately went into a bucking fit--not for the purpose of bucking, but to double barrel her hard and fast. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Especially out of sweet Radar who just does not act like that ever.

All this working out business I am doing must be worth something, though, because I had the strangest reaction to the bucking episode. I had a feeling I was coming off and that is pretty dang embarrassing in front of Madison, and two other people I do not know. And were were in a kind of confined area, which is part of why he did it, I suspect--he had nowhere to go to get away. There was not a damn thing I could do about it--I have no idea how airborne I was, but I was up there--your perceptions get wonky in such circumstances.

So anyway--it all eventually ended--I guess I was bucked off, but I landed on my feet. Both of them. At the same time. In reasonable places, for feet. Like I meant that shit to happen. When I asked Madison how that happened, she said that my right leg was still in the stirrup when I got airborne, and the stirrup and my right foot was on the left side of the saddle on the way down--that would explain why both feet got on the ground, allowing me to stand next to him with the reins in my hand like I planned it

Radar was very upset. (note: he was not the only one--I was HUMILIATED) We decided to separate our groups, because the neighbor had a new rider with her and I did not want to freak him out, but clearly Radar and Josie were NOT going to get along after that sort of mess.

Madison and I rode at least another hour, and he never took a wrong step. I mean nothing. We did some hard stuff--some log hopping we probably should not have done--and he handled it like the boy I love. We got off the beaten path and pioneered a little--and he was awesome.

We even did something that is guaranteed to cause problems--we rode behind the farm. Almost all of my horses will act an ass back there, as they holler at their friends and act like barn sour pukes.....and with Gyro having acted like that a few weeks ago when I went out with this same neighbor, I was sure it would be a mess. I wanted to get him lined out though, so we went back there. I tried everything I could think of to provoke a reaction, and could not get one. He was an absolute pleasure.

I guess I will chalk this day up to his one excused act of jackassery. I at first thought it was Barry's fault--and yes, he is 300 miles away--but their ride on Monday started out crappy, and I think Rad was holding a grudge. He was on high alert the whole first part of the ride today, until it culminated in the Grudge Match of 2009. Something in there changed from his odd behavior to far more serious behavior, and whatever the cause, I will not have it. But I do have to figure it out to make that happen. I think he just bought himself some more riding than he otherwise would have gotten, to help us work this out.

In other news, my camera went berserk and has to be sent into the canon repair center. This skeers me very much. What am I going to do with no camera? It better be back by the time of my trip in October. But worse than that, I have weaning to do, and that always presents great photo ops, and there is a lot of trail riding to do and I need a camera for that---and I got bupkus. This may call for sedatives.

And-- far worse--Squirrel, the Slybaby that Jodi has raised to a contributing member of society was run through a fence yesterday. She was treated last nite, but is now in the hospital for the next four days. She is going to live, but there is some serious damage, and the next 48-72 hours will tell whether she will make the barrel racer they planned her to be, or if she will be unable to stand up to the rigors of that career long term. I am sure they are devastated--they have to be, if I feel so awful about it.

And now, I had better get in the big tub to soak these hips--I am sure that my training regime has not totally prepared me to have been wishboned like I was tonight