Tonight I decided to ride Bestie in the lower arena because a) we hadn't been in there in a while and b) word at the barn was that today's sun had made it pleasantly toasty in there, especially as compared to the upper arena with its metal side walls that radiate the cold.
We ended up being the only ones in the lower arena; the just-after-work rush had slowed down at the barn. All seemed fine as I got on her and we started walking around to warm up. But after a bit, I realized that she seemed intent on not staying on the wall as we walked around the arena on the field side, at about the midpoint of that side. Then, when I tried to correct her to get her on the wall, she started acting really strangely, reaching out her nose to the wall, but keeping her body away from it. We were in the back right corner of the field side at this point.
At first I thought she just needed to itch her nose, which she does almost every time after I first get on. But as I watched her, this was different, almost like she wanted to reach out and smell something, but was hesitant to do so. She'd reach her nose out, get it right to the wall, then pull back. Each time she did that she got a bit more excitable. It was like there was something happening outdoors that she sort of wanted to investigate, but wasn't confident about doing so. I couldn't see, hear or smell anything out of the ordinary. Of course, with the plastic side walls up, you can't really see anything outside except vague shapes.
It made me increasingly nervous to be on her, so I got off. I tried to lead her along the wall to continue our loop, but she still continued reaching out to the wall with her nose while keeping her body perpendicular to it and then backing off. Even as I led her away from the corner into the middle of the ring, she kept turning back to the wall and looking at it.
I'm all about self preservation so I decided to lead her out of the lower arena and continue our ride in the upper arena. She was fine up there; business as usual.
After a few minutes, another rider came in and I mentioned the experience to her. She said the horse she had ridden earlier in the evening had acted the same way. Same corner. Honestly - it was a relief to hear someone else had the same experience. She couldn't see, smell or hear anything either. All we could think of was that there was an animal out there.
It was definitely weird. I've never seen Bestie act like that. It'll be interesting to go back in there in a day or two and see how she is. So much about horses is ... interesting. :)
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