When Everything Falls Into Place

When Everything Falls Into Place

Ellen and I decided to take Cole and Trifecta on a trail ride together.  Rather than do it as we had in the past where Trifecta would get way ahead and basically we would go on a solo ride, I decided it was time to try riding them together.  We have had plenty of practice solo riding.  We needed to practice group behavior--always a challenge for Trifecta.

Trifecta's biggest challenge is passing another horse, and it seems the worst when it is a horse that he knows.  He can pass up strange horses pretty good, but he tries to swing his hindquarters toward his herd mates. It makes sense because that is exactly the kind of thing he does when he is turned out with them.  He is actually quite a bully.

Ellen and I mounted at the trail head.  Cole was in the lead, and I wanted to pass him.  Sure enough, Tri started to swing.  I stopped him and tried several more times and he repeated it several more times.  It was time to get tough.  Cole is somewhat used to this kind of behavior because Starry has his moments.  Dante tends to panic.  Cole is much calmer about it, but Ellen is so used to Dante, that she was cringing when it happened.  I warned her that I had to put an end to it, so she was ready.  I asked Trifecta to pass, he swung and got a good wallop with the whip and he straightened up and skittled past Cole.  I hate doing things like this, but sometimes it is the best way.  

On the behavior quadrant, this is called positive punishment and I only use it when I want to make a bad behavior go extinct.  

Once we were in the lead, he didn't want to stay there.  I think he thought we were going to leave Cole as we have in the past.  He stopped a few times and once tried to back up.  That is something that Starry does, too, and Cole has learned to just back up to stay out of the way.  He did that on his own for Ellen.  There is a reason I wanted to do all this with Cole.  He is simply just awesome--and partnered up with Ellen--they are an amazing team.

After a few more pauses where he only slowed down and didn't stop, Trifecta decided about halfway down the hill that he would march down just like he does when we are alone.  As we approached the river, Ellen wisely hid Cole up on top of the bank behind the trees where Trifecta couldn't see him and be tempted to turn around and go back to him.  Trifecta crossed and went towards the right!  That was big because he often fights me, because he prefers to go to the left.  I called over to Ellen and told her we would wait for her by the fence.

Cole usually likes to take a great big drink before crossing, but he didn't want to leave me alone with "that thing."  He went right across and met us on the other side.  I kept Trifecta in the lead.  A few minutes later, he took a quick and unexpected turn around on the trail to go back by Cole.  Ellen was far enough away from us that she just stopped Cole and waited as I just told Trifecta to continue turning until he was pointing back in the right direction.  That was the last time he tried it on the ride.  

We started to trot.  This is the first time we have trotted with another horse following us on the trail.  It was a drizzly morning, so it wasn't that big of a surprise when I saw some hikers coming towards us with an open umbrella--and I realized there was a hole in our training.  I knew Cole would be fine, but I wasn't so sure about Trifecta, so I shouted over to the people to close the umbrella.  We walked towards them, thanked them and told them how umbrellas can scare horses.  They were so nice about it.

We walked for a while until we got to the best parts of the trail for trotting.  Cole is a naturally fast horse who really doesn't like to lead.  Dante is a naturally slow horse who is a happy leader.  Cole has learned to slow himself down and stay behind the lead horse; even if it means coming down to a walk and restarting his trot.  He was the perfect horse to do this with, and that is why I wanted him.

He originally learned it when we started trotting him on the trail with Ranger in the lead.  I spent a few rides clicking him to stay behind, but I really think that he learned because if he got too close to Ranger, Range would make evil faces at him--think of the ferocious faces that you see on merry-go-rounds...

We started our trotting, and Ellen placed Cole at a reasonable distance behind Tri.  It worked beautifully!  Cole was a parachute horse that moderated Trifecta, and he trotted calmly and steadily.  Cole stayed calm and steady, himself.  We walked around Willow Bend, which always makes me happy because Trifecta used to give me so many problems there.  (He wanted to take the trail that goes out to the street to the Willow Bend Picnic Area, and I wanted to continue on the bridle trail.)  The park was mowing grass over by the street which wasn't that far away from the trail at this point.  I wasn't sure what Tri would do.  I stopped him to let him watch through the trees, and he was curious, but not worried.  We walked a bit more and then went back into the trot.  We trotted all the way to the second river crossing with Cole not too far behind, and it was the best trotting Tri ever did over there.

We turned around to head on home with Trifecta in the lead.  During the last few rides, I have introduced trotting towards home.  We go a short distance and stop, click, walk and repeat.  He has gotten better at it, but I still haven't gone too far to keep him from getting too excited.  I wasn't going to do it this time because we were adding Cole to the mix, but my gut said it was a good time to try it, and usually my gut is right.  I told Ellen what I was going to do, and I said we probably wouldn't get too far.  She held Cole back a bit to give us space.

Much to my delight, Trifecta was wonderful!  I kept going and going.  Tri stayed calm, but Cole, who was fairly far behind us, was starting to get a bit riled up about it.  Ellen yelled out to me, and Trifecta did a lovely downward transition.  We were back to where the mowers were, but he hardly cared.

The rest of the way home was at a walk, and they were great.  We let Cole pass at one point, then had Tri pass him.  There was no swinging--just tons of praise--so we did it again.  Then we just let Tri lead the rest of the way home.  Cole was very happy about that.

In the last few weeks, we have done so much with Trifecta and he has come so far.  Big problems became little problems or vanished entirely like going around Willow Bend.  He is now 5, and I have had him for 3 years.  Things weren't always easy with him, though they were seldom dangerous.  He could just be so frustrating at times--like he was with Willow Bend.  Going down the hill to the river used to such a huge trial as he learned how to control those noodle legs of his that seemed to have a mind of their own--and if that wasn't hard enough you should have seen him on the river bank...

Just in the last month or so, everything seems to be falling in place, and it is such a wonderful feeling--all the more so because this hasn't always been easy.  I can now see that he is going to be the terrific trail horse that I always  hoped he would be.  It has been a fantastic journey.

Henry's Big Adventure

Henry's Big Adventure

We've had Henry just over 3 months, now.  He has spent his time leading, ground driving and hanging out with his new brothers.  At the same time, he has learned to trust us.  We have done some work on the driveway and have ventured out on to the street a few times with great success.

There is only one problem I had with him when I tried to lead him.  When he saw something that interested him to the right of him, he wouldn't just turn his head to look at it; he would turn his whole body and try to walk in that direction.  He got better at home with practice, but he was really bad on the street--and that could be dangerous.

With some thought, I realized I never had that problem like this when I was driving him.  I drive him with a bitless bridle, (the Dr. Cook style,) and he does really well with it.  That is when it occurred to me that I could lead him with it and use both reins, (one in each hand,) to direct him to go straight.  It worked like a dream.  I don't even have to pull the reins.  I just leave them slack and hold them steady if he tries to turn his head too far.  I don't restrict him that much because he still needs to look around.  I just do it enough so that he can't turn his body away from me and pull me into a ditch.  It is gentler than a chain on his nose and also more precise.  I sure wish I would have thought of this back when Trifecta was 2.

Now that we had that problem solved, it was time to take Henry on his first trail walk.  The day before, we walked down the street to the trail head and back, and he did really well.  We planned to go down the hill to the river.  It is about a quarter mile one way.  If at any time we started having problems, we would just turn around and go home.

Henry was great walking on the street to the trail. head  Once we got there and started walking down the trail, he got very enthusiastic and walked faster than he has at any other time.  About halfway down, he started to relax and dropped his head to a normal level, but continued to walk fast.  He handled the steep sections much better than Trifecta did for about the first 2 years.  He had no hesitation as we approached the water, and he stepped right in!  Since the river is low, there is an island we can walk on.  We went along that and I positioned him so he had to step in the water, but he didn't mind.  When we got back to Ellen, I asked him to step in again, and he did.  

We will save crossing for another day.  I was just so pleased that this went so well.  Most horses are pretty good, but every now and then you will find one that just hates the idea of going in the water.  I'm so glad Henry isn't one of them.

The trip back home went very well.  He went slower than the way down the hill and handled the steep parts better than Trifecta for the first year.  

There was only one car that passed us on the street.  It was coming from behind us, which is trickier than a car coming from the front of us, so I stopped him to let it pass.  He was fine, but when we looked back to see if there were any more cars, we saw a man riding towards us on a Segway.  That was a really weird thing to see on the street, and I had no idea how he would handle that.  I tried to hurry him home before it caught up to us, and what a relief it was when it turned down a driveway.

Overall, Ellen and I couldn't be happier with the way Henry handled his first trail walk.  Henry seemed happy, too.  No doubt, there will be many more to come.

A Most Amazing Trifecta

A Most Amazing Trifecta

When Ellen and I have 3 rideable trail horses, we usually ride 2 of them on the first ride, do chores and then take the third horse out for a ride.  If Ellen has to go to work, she will drive downs to the park and meet us on the other side of the river.  I will cross, go off trotting and meet her on the way back.  We then walk to her car, she goes home and I ride alone back to the barn.  It was time to take Trifecta on a normal third horse ride.  (It has been so long since we had 3 rideable trail horses.)

What a wonderful ride I had with Trifecta.  We met Ellen on the other side of the river, said hello and off we went at a trot all the way to the second river crossing.  There, not surprisingly, Trifecta decided he wasn't turning around to go home--he wanted to cross the river.  I had to circle him to get him in the right direction.  Then, I decided to add something new to our ride.  We would try trotting towards home.  We have been practicing it at the bottom of the hill on the days we don't cross.  There is a short section of trail that we just trot back and forth.  He understood the concept, and it was time to see how he would do on a real trail ride.  Some horses are totally sensible.  Dante was from the get go.  Cole took a bit.  When he was young, he had a lot of trouble regulating his speed--he only believed in fast.

I introduced it the same way I introduced trotting on the trail in general.  We trotted a short stretch, stopped, clicked and treated.  I wanted to make sure he had brakes.  He was very, very excited but was willing to stop.  We did it again, and the second time was much better.  The third time I tried, he was trotting very steady, and I was so pleased.  Suddenly, he slammed on the brakes.

The day before, a large branch had fallen alongside the edge of the trail.  We trotted by it on the way out, and he didn't care about it at all, but now the sun was lighting it up like it was shining a spot light on it; and everywhere around it was in the shade.  It was something new, and it looked very much like a trail monster.

His head went up, and he told me there was no way he was going to pass it.  This is the first time, ever, that something got him that worried.  I let him look at it, and he started to step backwards.  When he stopped, I let him look some more and asked for a step forward.  He hesitantly did--and then decided backing up was better. That is how it went, but eventually he got closer and closer until he was able to gingerly pass it--giving it the side eye the whole time.

We saw a jogger heading our way, and she told us the Ellen was not much further ahead of us.  She was right.  I thought I would show Ellen what we had been practicing, so I started to trot.  He saw her and got very excited.  When I asked him to whoa, he just blew right through it.  I ended up having to bend him to get him to stop, and then he just walked very fast to catch up with her.

We had a great walk back to the first river crossing and there we parted.  It was a proper "Third Horse Trail Ride," and I am sure it was the beginning of many to come.

That ride went so well that I needed to find something more challenging for the next day.  Ellen was on vacation, so we had more time.  We took Cole and Dante on the first ride and then decided it was time to take Trifecta the other way.

He has been to the second river the other way and crossed it twice, but then we turned around to go home.  The trails beyond that point are pretty tricky.  At first it isn't bad.  The river is on the right with a fence on that side.  To the left are trees separating us from the nearby road.  At the end of that, the trail comes out into the open.  On one side is the busy parkway and the other side is the Fishermen's Wall.  It is a stone wall at least 10 feet with the river at the bottom of it.  We will usually see people fishing there.  There are baseball diamonds across the street, small parking lots along the road and the dread garbage can.  It is a lot for a horse to handle. and it goes for about a quarter mile until you are back into the woods.

Trifecta was thrilled to go this direction and all went well until we got to the top of a short but steep hill and a fawn popped up and ran away.  Tri was quite startled, and he popped up, too.  He settled down quickly and happily hurried down the hill on the other side to the river crossing.  Ellen left us to cross on the river ford and Trifecta stepped eagerly into the water.  About halfway across, he jumped like he saw another fawn.  I looked up and a Great Blue Heron soared right over the top of our heads.  At the same time, there was a very low airplane going overhead, and Ellen wished so much that she had her camera out to take that picture.  (We are extremely close to the airport, and the planes can be very low there when they are landing.)

He walked quicker across the water, and it didn't surprise me one bit when he ran up the river bank--it was the adrenaline.  I am so glad he waited until he got out of the water, first.

Because Ellen was nervous, she decided to hook him to the lead rope for his first venture on this very difficult trail.  I would say it was totally unnecessary.  He just walked beside her as she pointed out all the interesting things to see.  He was excited and looking at everything, but he was amazingly good.  He was curious about what he saw, but he didn't over react to anything.  And there simply is nothing else to say--it was totally uneventful.

The whole ride was just amazing.

Second River and Beyond

 

Second River and Beyond

Since our first attempt on the second river crossing with Trifecta went so well, it was time to tackle the trails on the other side.  Ellen had some vacation time, so we decided to take advantage of the extra time and do it on a weekday when the park is quieter.

We walked the whole way to the second river crossing so Ellen could keep up with us and join us when we got to the other side.  This time, I decided to try crossing the deep way in hopes that it would slow Trifecta down.  Ellen suggested doing some walk/whoa transitions before we got to the river to charge up the clicker and hopefully that would encourage him to stop in the river when I asked him.  That is a great way to keep a horse from rushing on a river crossing, but Trifecta completely ignored my requests the first time we did it.

I knew that getting him to cross wouldn't be the problem--getting him to cross in a civilized manner would be.

Ellen left us to cross on the pedestrian bridge and to meet us on the other side.  I asked Trifecta to step in, and he did it immediately.  After a few steps I asked for whoa, and I got it!  I clicked and treated him.  After that, I stopped him about every 5 steps or so.  He never got momentum.  I had some really good treats, and that helped a lot.

The river bank is very steep on the other side, but he went up it like a gentleman.  Once we started down the trail, though, he lost all his composure, and excitement level went through the roof.  Ellen hooked up the lead rope to his bridle, and it worked like magic.  He settled right down, and we headed down the new trail.  There is a very short and very steep hill we had to go up--success!  On top of the hill is a small rock wall around a culvert that he looked at sideways, but once he got close enough to see it well, he was fine.  I stopped him there so Ellen could catch her breath.  Then we proceeded down the trail.

After a few minutes, he was doing so well that Ellen unhooked him and the rest of the way went smoothly.  When we got to the street, we turned around to head back home.

The way back was just as uneventful.  Going down the hill was a challenge, but he met it well.  Crossing back over the river was a piece of cake.  In fact, the rest of the ride was a piece of cake.  Ellen had driven down to the park, so we left her when we crossed the final river and went home on our own.

It all went so well, we decided to do it again the next day.

We repeated everything we did the first time.  The only problem was that Ellen was getting some tummy cramps and was having trouble keeping up with us.  The second river crossing went well.  This time, I only stopped him 3 times on the way across.  Ellen and I didn't think he needed to be hooked up to the lead rope, and Trifecta proved us right.  

When we got up the short, steep hill, I told Ellen to take her time and not bother to keep up with us-hoping her tummy cramps would feel better.  We would meet her on the way back.  That went fine.  Trifecta was looking to the left and right with such interest that he forgot Ellen wasn't there--until he remembered and spun around to go back to her.  I kept turning him until he was facing the proper direction, and we continued on our way.  Ten steps later, he tried to do it again with the same results.  I decided I would do some walk/whoa transitions (no clicks) to get his mind back on his job, and it worked beautifully.  We got to the intersection and turned back.  He walked nicely until he saw Ellen and halfheartedly tried to trot several times to catch up to her.  He was very easy to correct.  Once we got to her, he was very happy. and we went home without any troubles at all.

He was so good, that the next time we try it, Ellen will probably ride Cole with us.

Awesome Cole

Awesome Cole 

Ellen and I were coming home from a trail ride the other day.  I was on Cole, she was on Dante, and we had crossed the river and were going up the hill.  I glanced back and saw some riders that were behind us starting to cross the river.  We heard someone say "walk" really loud.  It was hard to make out what was going on because we were looking down through tree branches, but we heard a noise and a splash.  A horse went down.

The bottom of the river crossing is mostly smooth, and in the summer it grows some very slippery algae.  A rushing horse can easily slip and fall.  Ellen and I were watching to see what was happening.  We saw a horse come out of the river with her rider following.  The horse was loose and heading home.

I hopped off Cole and turned him perpendicular to the trail to block it.  On one side of the trail there is a ditch and the other side is a cliff.  By now, we knew the horse was Candy.  She is a Thoroughbred that did very well on the track, spent some years having babies and at the age of 20 started a successful new career as a trail horse.  She lives a few doors down from where we keep our horses.

She was trotting up the hill, and when she saw Cole, she got slower and slower.  I had some treats in my hand, and I was trying to lure her to me.  I guess somewhere along the way, someone told Candy not to take candy from strangers because she stopped, turned around and trotted back down the hill to be with her friends. 

At that point, I turned to look at Cole.  He was completely blocking the trail--all parked out like a proper Morgan--looking huge for a horse that is only 14.2 hands.  He had no intentions of budging.  No wonder Candy gave up.  Dante was just eating the underbrush...

In any sort of crisis, there is no other horse I would want to be with more than Cole.  He always maintains his cool and knows what to do.  The best was the day I had to leave him loose on the trail to dislodge Kevin, who was hanging upside down from his stirrup.  Cole stood like a statue that day, too.  Whatever we need from him, he gives it to us.  If there is something scary, he is always willing to take the lead and show the other horses they are safe.  Then there was the day he herded the barn goats back home... 

Cole is just an awesome horse

Henry Shows Us Who He Is

 

Henry Shows Us Who He Is

Henry is living the easy life, right now.  I have only been doing light ground driving and leading lessons.  He is getting daily handling, foot cleaning and time with his big brothers.  The other day, we decided to take him for a walk on the street.

It wasn't the first time we have done this, and we also have spent a lot of time at the end of the driveway watching traffic.  Henry's previous owner told us he was good with traffic, and nothing Henry has done so far has proved otherwise.

We had no intentions of going all the way to the trail.  Our barn has 2 driveways.  We crossed the street, walked him over to the other driveway, turned him around, recrossed the street and came back.  It was a hot day, so I decided that that was good enough.  

When I started leading him down our driveway, my sister cautioned me and said there was a motorcycle coming.  I thought, "Good.  I can see how he is with motorcycles."  I turned him around to face the street.  That is when my sister said it was more like 10 motorcycles.  I was maybe 15 feet from the road.  The trees alongside the driveway are pretty thick, so we couldn't see the motorcycles until they were right in front of us.  They were very loud and scary.  I glanced over at Henry, and his head was way up in the air and his eyes were really big--but he just stood there as the motorcycles went past.

I praised him and petted him, and then we turned around to walk back to the barn.  I have been in situations like this where the horse will freeze, but when it is time to move, he will get all prancey and excited.  Not Henry.  He put his head back down and walked down the driveway like nothing ever happened.

And now I really know who Henry is.  He is a sensible horse who is more likely to think before he acts.  Maybe he picked up on the fact that Ellen and I weren't afraid of the motorcycles--if so, all the much better.  He has been a very unspooky horse, all along, but this was a great test.

I took a business management class 100 years ago before I ever had horses, and the professor was teaching us how to motivate people.  It was the first time I ever heard of behavior modification, and little did I know that I would come to use it all the time; though with horses and not people.

There was one thing he said that always stuck in my head.  "You can change a person's behavior, but you can't change that person's character."  Well, Henry showed me his character, and I really liked what I saw.

Tri on His Solo Rides

Tri on His Solo Rides

A good trail horse needs to safely be ridden with other horses as well as by himself.  With Trifecta, and all the horses I've ever trained, the easiest rides are with Ellen walking with us.  Some people prefer to start trail riding a new trail horse with other horses, but that is because they have never ridden with Ellen on foot.  She intuitively knows the right thing to do at the right time--plus she is good company.

Of course, Trifecta needs to be able to go with other horses, too, so we started up our Trifecta Tuesday rides with Dante.  That is when I realized we were actually going to work on solo rides.  Tri is a naturally fast horse, and Dante is a naturally slow horse.  We can start out at the mounting block together, but by the time I reach the river, they are no longer in sight.  Last year, I used to wait.  This year, I have been just leaving them behind.  I can mostly walk the trail to the next river crossing, turn around and meet them on the way back.  Ellen can do a lot of trotting and not catch up with us.  If I trot Tri, though he is not a super fast trotter, he still gets down the trail in good time--leaving Dante way back there.  When we turn around and walk home with Dante, Tri walks so fast that we leave Dante in the dust.  Ellen gets to do a lot of trotting towards home, too.  She is always careful to stop well behind Trifecta so we can continue our solo ride.  We wait for them at the river and go home together from there.  On the way up the hill, Trifecta practices his stop and wait for Dante routine.  

The only problem I have been having on our solo rides is random spinning on the way out.  I think it is happening for several reasons.  First, he is aware of the Dante being back there, somewhere, and he wants to go back to him.  The other reason I think may be affecting him is that most of the places he picks seem to be very lush with foliage--and he tries to spin off the trail and refuses to go forward once I get him corrected; often standing in the grass and weeds.  I don't think that is coincidental.  I do not allow him to snack on his rides, but he is named Tri for a reason.  He will always try.  

He is getting better, and I seem to be able to get him back on the straight and narrow easier.  He did things like this in the arena, too.  Somewhere along the way, I came up with a strategy that is effective with him.  If I can get him pointed in the correct direction, I stop and stand him.  Then, in a deep voice, I say, "Think about it."  Most times, he does and proceeds in the direction I want.  I have found this to be exceedingly useful on the trail, too.  It seems to get him focused and keeps things from escalating.

Dante seems totally content to be alone and away from his obnoxious friend.  They are good buddies when they are turned out together, but on the trail, Dante is all business.  

Trifecta on the Second Rivers

Trifecta on the Second Rivers

When we go on a trail ride, the trail starts by going down a hill.  At the bottom of the hill is the river, and we call that the "first river crossing."  Then we decide to go to the left or to the right.  Either way we go, we end up at a second river crossing.  Most rides, we go to the right because it is a nicer trail and prettier.  If we go to the left, it does get nice and pretty, but we have to ride a bit to get to the good sections.

It was time to tackle both "second river crossings."  We did the one to the left once last year, and it was uneventful.  It is a very easy river to cross because it isn't all that deep and is mostly smooth going.  We went over that way to give it a try this year.  Ellen joined us on foot and was willing to walk into the water to help him across, but it wasn't necessary.  Trifecta stepped right in and walked steadily to the other side.  Ellen cut over to the street and crossed on the nearby ford.  She met us on the other side, and we rode out to the next intersection, turned around and headed back towards home.  Once again, he crossed the river with ease.  

The real challenge was riding him down the short, steep hill with the road at the bottom.  He tends to rush down slopes, but recently, he has gotten so much better.  Well, he walked down it like a champ.  I was so proud of him.

Our next challenge was the second river in the other direction.  That one is tougher because it is deeper and you have to go over a bunch of rocks and around some other rocks if you go one route or through much deeper water than he has ever been in if we go the other way.  The rocky way is trickier, but I decided to go that way because I was hoping it would slow him down.  

Ellen was with us on foot, but I had done some trotting and left her far behind.  I figured that if he didn't want to cross, we could wait until she caught up.  I didn't need to worry about that in the least.  I rode down the river bank and asked him to step in.  After the first step, he never stopped--I couldn't have stopped him if  I tried because he was so excited!  I threaded him over the small rocks and around the big rocks--ducking under the tree branches and then up the steep bank on the other side.  He did go faster than I would have liked, so that is something we will need to work on.  

I rode on a short way to the bottom of a hill and turned him around.  Immediately, he spun around to face the hill.  I tried again with the same results.  The little guy didn't want to go home!  I was able to turn him around and get him going towards the river.  As we neared it, we saw Ellen on the other side.  

Now for the part I was really worried about.  Remember when I said he tends to rush down slopes?  I had ride him down a river bank that is twice as long and much steeper than he is accustomed to.  He has bolted down the one at the first river crossing in the past and then tried to trot across the water.  I stopped him at the top, took a deep breath and gave him his command for sensible hill descents, "control."  I guided him down the slope at an angle to decrease the steepness, and he walked carefully down into the river.  What a relief!  He did just what we have been training him for.  He happily marched across the river--faster than I wanted him to but he was sure footed and sensible.  

From there, Ellen and I just walked home together.  He is turning into a great trail horses!

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!