Most interesting lesson ever

April 10 lesson. Imagine the arena above, but kind of crowded...

Four pigeons. Two cats. One horse. And me.

The pigeons have been in the rafters of the indoor closest to the barn for weeks. They appear each spring, usually one or two pigeon couples, to assemble nests somewhere in the rafters' nooks and crannies. The horses are always a little skittish when the pigeons first make their reappearance, but most horses get used to them. 

Bestie was one of the horses that was doing fine with the pigeons, even when one bird dropped suddenly out of the rafters to swoop right over us during a ride a couple of weeks ago. I felt her tense (and I know I did, the bird appeared so suddenly), but she kept jogging along.

When we went into the indoor a couple of weeks ago for our lesson, there were two pigeon couples in the rafters. No sweat, seen 'em before. However, things got interesting because the barn cats followed us into the indoor. When that has happened in previous lessons, Paula has scooped them up and returned them to the barn. But the cats were pretty quick this time. One went over to poke around in the corner where the jump standards and poles are piled up, and one climbed the short wall and went into the aisle that leads to the other indoor.

We started the lesson. As I came around one corner, a cat reappeared and then disappeared among the jumps. Another couple circles, and the other cat jumped up on the wall right as we came around the curve. I started to feel a little jittery. Bestie gave the cat on the wall the hairy eyeball, but otherwise didn't react. The cat jumped into the indoor and leisurely strolled in front of us as we tried to go over a pole.

Then both cats climbed up into the rafters, and the pigeons started flying nervously across the indoor. The cats couldn't get to the pigeons because they had climbed into the rafters pretty far away from the nests. But the pigeons really weren't happy.

As Bestie and I circled, every so often I could see a cat's leg or tail hanging from the rafters as they prowled around up there. I had this nightmarish thought of what would happen if a cat suddenly fell out of the rafters. I was pretty sure it wouldn't be pretty. Pigeons Bestie was fine with, but dropping cats would be a whole 'nother story. I mean, the thought "I am dead if that happens" did cross my mind. I could feel my stress level rising and rising and I started an internal debate on whether to tell Paula that I just couldn't continue. 

During all this - me sweating and riding with one eye on the rafters and one eye on our riding area - Bestie was going along like nothing was happening. In her world, nothing was. So, I took a few deep breaths to calm down and kept riding.

Honestly, when it was over and I could laugh about it and recognize that  lesson was a good one, I felt like Bestie and I had really achieved something together. She totally took care of me. There was enough going on that she could've escalated and I would've likely gotten off. But we got through it.

It was not a happy ending for the pigeons, though. When I got to the barn the next day, I found out that the pellet gun had come out. Apparently during a lesson after mine, a pigeon flew right in front of the horse and rider and it was determined that enough was enough. Felt kind of bad for the birds.