Update on Henry

  

Update on Henry

He's really a great horse!  I have to pinch myself to prove I'm not dreaming.  At first, I thought there might be something wrong with him, but the vet said he was fine.  Then I figured it must be worms, after all, he was on the thin side, so I had the vet do a fecal check.  He has a low worm count.   Then I thought it might be that he wasn't getting enough nutrition, but after 2 months of Gro n' Win with lots of oats and hay, he is gaining weight and still a wonderful horse.  (I think he has grown a little taller, too.)

So I guess we just found a great horse.  I have continued doing short sessions of ground driving, and he and I are learning how to communicate.  He has had harness training, so a lot of it was about me getting coordinated again and him learning what I wanted.  After about 6 sessions, we are walking all around the arena.  Soon, we will add trotting.  He has been so much more cooperative than Trifecta was when I started ground driving him.  He really seems to want to do the right thing--and that reminds me so much of Cole.  The difference is that Cole always tried to give you too much.  (You want faster?  I'll give you a lot faster!)  Henry seems to find the right amount.

He continues to get along with the other horses--even Trifecta.  They have been playing more, and that's what Trifecta loves to do.  Henry just seems to be able to read the room and act accordingly.  I have to wonder if that is what he is doing with us, too.

He still hasn't really spooked a single time.  When we stand at the end of the driveway to practice traffic, he is really indifferent.  He has perfect stall manners and loves to be groomed.  Henry was even pretty good for his first visit with our farrier.  He is an easy horse to love.

The only thing that can really thwart Ellen's plan to steal Cole from me is if Henry continues to be such a good horse.  It's looking that way...

The man that sold him to us has a couple half sisters of the same age that are for sale if anyone in interested.

Tri on the Trail

Tri on the Trail

This is Tri's big year, and so far it is going well.  We are getting him out on the trail 2-3 times a week.  Sometimes he is just wonderful, and other times he can be so "trying."  It often happens on the same ride.  The best news is that he isn't doing anything dangerous, and I feel very safe on him.

The easiest rides are the ones that Ellen walks along with me.  She has such a calming effect on him.  He sometimes gets a little upset when we trot away from her, so we did take a few rides where we didn't go as far but spent our time trotting away from her, walking back and then trotting away again.  One day, she suggested cantering.  I thought it was a wonderful idea, and he did his best cantering--ever.  At the 25th stride, I felt him slowing down a little, so I stopped him on the 27th stride.  Since then, he has been getting very, very excited when I try to trot him on that section of trail, so we haven't cantered there since.  I have been encouraging him to trot there like a gentleman, and I have seen improvement.

We have ridden a few times with Dante, and that is more like riding by myself since Dante has a much slower walk and a somewhat slower trot.  By the second ride, Tri's manners improved considerably with Dante, so it surprised me when I tried to ride him with Cole and he regressed so much.  Then, Ellen reminded me that the only time I have ever ridden him with Cole is a few times last summer in the park.  I ride with Dante in the arena all the time.  We decided we will have to spend some time with Ellen riding Cole and with me on Trifecta up at the barn to work on manners.  (This is all part of Ellen's plan to steal Cole away from me and leave me with the babies.)

Cole is a faster horse, so he can keep up much better with Trifecta than Dante.  It isn't that Trifecta is that fast of a horse.  In the arena, he is moderately paced.  It is just that the excitement on the trail makes him go faster down there.  I expect that he will mellow out in time just like Cole did.  Cole was faster than Trifecta ever was...

The problems I have been having the most with him is when he drifts off the trail and refuses to go forward.  Sometimes he does it when I am too far ahead of Ellen or the other horse, but he will even do it if we are following them.  After much observation, Ellen and I both agree that most of it is about him wanting to eat the vegetation.  He has never been allowed to eat on the trail, but he has managed to trick me up at the barn and grab leaves while we are working.  It started back when I was ground driving him and I couldn't see the leaves on the ground ahead of us.  When he sees a small branch on the ground in our outdoor arena, he will actually stop and fight with me about it.  I believe that is what is happening with us on the trail--and there is just so much vegetation everywhere!

One day, we didn't have too much time, so Ellen walked with us on the hill to the river.  We did 2 trips up and down, and for the first time doing this, Tri was terrific.  The opens up a lot of opportunities to do more trail riding--either on days where we don't have much time or days when the river is too high to cross.  Honestly, I am starting to get restless when I ride him in the arena and really prefer to be in the park.  I have Henry now for arena training.

This is the kind of training I love and excel in, and it is great!  I see him getting better at some things--and then he will try something new for me to work out.  He's never been an easy horse--I think he just thinks too much--but he has always been a fun horse.  And we are going to have a really fun summer!

Trifecta Hits the Trails

Trifecta Hits the Trails

We have continued to bring Trifecta in the park.  Ellen has been walking along with us.  The main problems I have been having with him is rushing towards home--which makes it really tough for Ellen to keep up.  I really don't mind the fast walk, but he kept trying to trot.  

I don't know how many rides we went on like this, but finally it occurred to me what must be done.  I needed to get him tired.  The next time I took him out, once I got to the part of the trail that is good for trotting, I left Ellen behind and trotted all the way out to the second river crossing.  I did stop a few times to make sure I still had brakes, but we started right back up.  We turned at the second river and walked back to catch up with Ellen.  After all that, he was happy to just walk home.  The problem was solved.

This meant that it was time for Trifeca Tuesdays to begin again.  We were doing them last fall.  That is where he goes on the primary ride with one of the other horses.

For our first Tuesday, we chose Dante.  There are some complications when we ride these two together.  First of all, they are best friends--which means that Trifecta always wants to play with him.  The second problem is that Dante is much slower than Trifecta.

We started down the hill with Trifecta in the lead and practiced standing and waiting for Dante.  We got to the river first, so I had him start crossing.  When we were about 5 feet from the other side, he just stopped and refused to go any further.  He even took a few backward steps!  I think it might have been because he realized Dante was back there, and he was leaving him.  I convinced him to get out of the water and go up the bank.  While we waited for Dante to catch up, he decided, once again, that he wanted to go to the left instead of to the right.  We ended up circling...Sigh...

When Ellen made it across, I was able to get him to follow Dante in the right direction.  He still tried to turn around a few times even with Dante in the lead.  I confess I was getting a little frustrated.  Since he likes to walk so fast, I knew it would be better if Trifecta was in the lead, but whenever I tried to pass, I could feel his hindquarters swing towards Dante.  This scared both Dante and Ellen.  We have spent a lot of time practicing this in the arena, and he was getting so much better, but the excitement of being out on the trail caused the behavior to return.  Sigh...

When we got to a wider part of the trail, I was able to pass Dante peacefully.  (I have to use a lot of leg on the Dante side.)  That only worked for a few minutes when we came across a person who was on her phone and walking her dog at the same time.  Since she wasn't paying attention, the dog tried to come right up to us.  She pulled him in only to have him do it again.  I didn't think that Trifecta would kick the dog.  My worry was that he would lose his momentum and want to turn around again.  I was right.  We got stuck.  Ellen explained kindly to the woman that her dog's safety was at risk if he got too close to a horse and then came to help us.  Dante took the lead again and Trifecta was on the move.

And then things just got better.  I had Trifecta pass Dante, and this time my leg worked.  We did some trotting, stopped to talk to friends and did more trotting.  We got to the second river, waited for Ellen and Dante to catch up and started our walk home.  Trifecta walked fast but steady.  It didn't take long before I lost Dante.  They would drop back, trot for a while, drop back and trot again.  Ellen told me she actually ended up doing a lot of trotting.  We just kept walking.  The woman with the dog was coming our way, and this time she pulled him off the trail and held him still; which made me smile and give her a big "Thank you!"  When we saw our friends again, we stopped to chat.  That is when Ellen and Dante caught up with us for real.  They dropped back by the time I got to the river to cross to go home, so we just went right across and waited on the other side.  As we went up the hill, we practiced waiting for Dante again.  

Once we got past the first part of the ride where he was being sticky, it turned out to be a terrific ride.  Trifecta Tuesdays have begun!

Henry Starts Training

 Henry Starts Training

It was time.  Of course, I started training Henry on Day one, as we all do when we get a horse.  Everything we do is training.  We worked on leading.  I led him all around the property and out to the street.  I was glad to see that he was as good with traffic as his previous owner assured me he was. 

Recently, I introduced him to a bit less bridle.  I am not a bitless bridle purist, but our horses have done just as well bitless as with a bit, and I had a problem.  I didn't have any other bridles.  Cole has one.  Trifecta is using Ranger's old bitless bridle.  I started using it over the winter and he not only doing well in it, but he looks pretty in the red and green biothane.  I am still using Cruiser's old synthetic bridle on Trifecta when we go on the trail.  I know that Ellen doesn't have anything small enough to fit Henry, so I got Cole's old bitless and tried that on him and it fits really nice.  It is cob size because Cole is little.  (Don't tell him that.)  I certainly don't want to buy a new bridle for a growing horse.  Once I  know how large he will get, I will get him a new bridle all his own and a bit that fits him.

Since I was sure that this was a new piece of equipment for him, I started to use it to go on his walkabouts.  By putting one rein in each hand and holding the reins under his head, I could simulate steering the bitless.  He seemed a little puzzled at first, but then he caught on and we could walk in all sorts of figures.  

He got to meet all of our horses.  He is the first horse I ever found that Cole really likes.  That just makes me smile each time I think of it.  He learned that he should be respectful with Cole, play with Dante and cuddle with Starry.  It was a little tricky with Trifecta the first few times because Trifecta can be way over the top in his demands to play.  The first couple sessions had to be ended early, but after that, each session got a little better.

The morning that Henry's real training started, we had him out with Trifecta first as we cleaned the stalls.  I checked on them and saw Henry trotting by; followed by Trifecta.  They stopped at the gate for a few moments and Henry took off at a canter.  Trifecta was thrilled that he had someone to run with, and he immediately followed.  They kept going around and around.  Henry's canter got faster and faster as he started lengthening his strides.  Before we knew it, Trifecta had to work to keep up with him.  They switched directions a few times and kept going.  That is when I decided it would be a perfect day to start training.  Ellen agreed.

We brought him back in and let him take a break.  I put the surcingle and the bridle on him and brought him out.  After leading him around a little bit, I had Ellen hold him as I hooked up the long reins.  Ellen led him at first, and he was fine.  This was no surprise since he had some harness training in his old home.  I told her to unhook him, and she continued to walk with him as I ground drove him around the arena.  We went both ways, crossed the diagonal a few times and did some "whoas."  He did very well, so we called it quits after about 10 minutes.  

I was not surprised that he was so good, but it still made me very happy.  We won't be working him hard or often--just when we have some extra time to play around.  I am in no hurry because I won't be riding him until spring.  It was just nice to get started.