After Hazel left in August I spent most of my time riding Gulliver and while I learned some things with him and respect him, There wasn't ever the same bond or enjoyment that I had with Hazel. But then just before Christmas Jen Foreman called Julie and offered her a care lease with me in mind. A week or two later Ms June Bug arrived! She was a giant warmblood cross (or at least that was the best guess anyone had). When Jen bought her 6 months prior she was severely underweight and was being used as a broodmare, but kept dropping her fouls (likely due to her health). The day after she arrived at Greenmarch I got to ride her for the first time! I took my time grooming her and tacking her up, trying to get to know her a bit. Then when it came time to ride, I hopped on her and before I was even able to pick up my stirrups she started to canter. I spent most of that first canter debating if I should try to do an emergency dismount while also thoroughly enjoying her amazingly fluid canter.
After spiraling her in and doing a couple small circles I was able to get her back to a walk... though I barely stayed on through the trot. After that we spent the rest of the lesson working on getting her into a mellow consistent trot. It felt amazing to be back on a forward horse again... and unlike Hazel, June is super responsive to all aids. Even in that first ride, I immediately felt like I could swing her butt around wherever I wanted it with just a nudge of my leg. Since June is considerably bigger than any horse I've ever ridden, it took quite a while to get used to the extra movement of her trot. Then when we tried our first cross rail, we found that Miss June bug had about 4 more gears in her and they all came out right then! We came out of that jump tearing around the arena, and of course we were riding during on of the winter break camp rides, so there were a bunch of inexperienced kids that I was praying not to traumatize. That was a far cry from the first lovely relaxed canter unasked for canter of our first ride.
After that first jump, we decided to let Natali jump her and figure out her jumping habits before i tried again. Natali was more than willing and did great with her. June would get a bit fast after each jump, but settled well with a gentle check and getting her weight back. When I eventually started asking her to canter, she again was really fast, but over time we figured out what worked and I was able to slow her fairly quickly. We also started doing more single jumps and got more and more control with each attempt. I learned really quickly to get the hell out of her face while going over a jump and regain contact gently or she would throw a fit. Girlfriend knew her job and didn't let anyone getting in her way while doing it! She was a sweet and super sensitive lady... but pleasantly not spooky and had amazing ground manners!
It took absolutely no time at all before I fell in love with his horse more than I ever imagined I could love an animal that didn't belong to me! Sadly only 5 months after coming to Greenmarch, Miss June started becoming more and more lame until one week she ripped her shoe off and a chunk of her hoof with it. It was enough hoof that Matt wasn't able to put her shoe back on her and he didn't think that she would ever get over the lameness that we were seeing in her left front leg. This was also the same week that she decided to stop eating and within a few days she had lost a noticeable amount of weight. I had ridden her on a Wednesday (the day she pulled her shoe off), she was mostly sound for about half of our ride, then went lame. I finished off my ride trying out Dax for the first time. The next day I went away for my retreat weekend. When I get back on Monday June was clearly not herself anymore and had given up. Julie at that point had already made the appointment to have her put down the next day! I was completely heartbroken! I know that June was old and didn't have much time left when she came to us, but her end came about far more quickly than I was prepared for! Miss June Bug will forever have a special place in my heart!
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