34 – Getting Home – Lois and Tigger

We were on our way home from Kentucky.  Fly to Chicago, fly to San Francisco, then five hours until the flight home to New Zealand.

Richard and Kerry’s daughter was planning to drive to Auckland to pick them up, but the car was dodgy, that’s ok she can use my car as Mum and Dad were picking me up.  But as she was under 25 years old I had to get it ok’d by my insurance, so I got the laptop out at San Francisco and skyped Bill.  But there in my email inbox “Tokoroa Ride Cancelled”.  The ride was scheduled for about 10 days time.  Why would there be a last-minute cancellation?  It was in the forest so it didn’t matter that it had rained all September.  I had been looking forward to it, being able to help without trying to ride as well. 

Never mind, we had four hours and we weren’t going to waste it sitting in an airport!  So we caught a train into town planning to get the famous cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf.  But the cable cars weren’t running that day!!!                                

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Hmmph.  Had to catch a bus.  Wandered along the wharf area, found a restaurant, ordered fish of course.

Halfway through the meal, Ray’s phone ran, Lois a club stalwart and organiser of the Tokoroa ride, had had an accident and was in hospital!  A small camping gas cylinder accidentally in the burning rubbish had exploded and hit her in the face!  They were hoping to save her eye!!  So that was why the ride was cancelled.

Home again – next day, first visit was to see Lois in Waikato hospital.  And typical Lois, in spite of everything she was remarkably upbeat, it could have been worse, her grandchildren were with her, it might have hit one of them!  And here she was getting special treatment by having us visit her after just getting home.  During the visit she suggested that I might like to take Tigger for a while to get him going as I didn’t have anything to ride,  Lace would be home in a little over a month but was overdue a decent holiday. 

Henry and Tigger were both Anglos by Breakaway Black Sambucca.  We had just bought Henry as a joint project horse when Tigs turned up on the New Zealand online auction/sales site, Trademe.  We didn’t need two, so Kerry had suggested to Lois that she buy him.  Henry had really good heart rates and so it wouldn’t do to let this one get away – so she did – she had had him broken in but hadn’t had him to any endurance rides yet, he’d been turned out for a while and now she was injured.  So after being home for a couple of weeks with nothing to ride, Tigger came to stay.

The first time I rode him it was just around one paddock and he was really good, until I decided to finish with a walk around the next paddock, further away from George.  Suddenly he was getting frights at everything, spinning and trying to go back to George – not allowed – he got worse, throwing a complete hissy tantrum.  Now the farm is not horse fenced, it’s cow fenced, three wires, the bottom two electric.  We ended up right up next to a fence and it was “either you let me go where I want” (back to George) “or we’ll go through this fence”.  There was a third option that Tigger hadn’t thought of, I got off, unclipped the rein from the far side and half drove-half lunged him the direction I wanted. 

With the spinning I thought maybe he was frightened, so I spent a day or so going very quietly and being really nice to him – didn’t help.  I ended up carrying a stick and using it on his neck when he tried to spin. Hmmm.  I could have cheerfully shot him that first week, but he wasn’t mine.

He improved, we started going out and doing more.  And so I discovered that though he could be pretty annoying he felt amazing.  So strong, so athletic, everything felt easy for him.  Crap.  He was a dickhead, but he was a talented dickhead!

Lace was home and had had more rest than she thought was necessary.  So I started riding her again.  One day Kerry was riding Lace and I was on Tigs, “Should I buy him?” “WHY????!!!!!”  He was so annoying, and the spinning was still happening.  

I rang Lois, “How’s he going?”, “Ok, do you want to sell him?  I think he’s going to be good”.  You shouldn’t lie to friends, I could have said he was annoying and not right for her, but why then would I want to buy him?  Lois thought about it for a few days and agreed to sell, she had really got Tigger for her good friend to ride, but she was off having babies.

So I bought Tigger – and also paid Lois back the money she had paid me for riding him for her.