Finally! Springtime Weather

Finally! Springtime Weather


We hit a home run for the first weekend in March. On Saturday, it was a chilly start, but it was just so nice to be out on the trail. We took Cole and Ranger together. When we first crossed the river, we did a little trotting because the footing was good. The trail goes along a fence that has a paved trail on the other side for bikes and walkers. We made it about 5 seconds before Ranger tossed in a little buck. We brought them down to a walk for a few seconds and tried the trot again. We made another 5 seconds before Ranger spooked at a jogger on the other trail. We brought them back to a walk and kept that way until we were well away from the fence with its distractions.


We tried trotting one more time, and this time, Ranger acted sensible, but he was playing a game with Cole. I wanted Cole to follow Ranger. Ranger wanted Cole to pass, so he could surge forward and challenge Cole to a race. How did we know? Because Range plays this game with Cruiser. I try to keep Cruise behind, but he never wants to be in the lead and will ignore me, trot past Ranger and then Ranger gets his surge. Cruiser falls for it every time.



Ranger kept going slower and slower with his head bent slightly so he could keep a close eye on Cole. Cole struggled with the slow speed, but didn’t pass. Ranger was thwarted. We walked the rest of the ride. It was sunny, so we didn’t even get cold.


The only problem was when we were nearly home, and we passed up a fractious barn mate. Cole began to get fractious, too, and he stayed that way even when the mare was well out of sight. Fortunately, he calmed down by the time we got to the street.



Sunday was a warmer, prettier day. We decided to do more trotting than the day before because the trail was softer. For the most part, it went well. Ranger did try to lure Cole, but I convinced Cole he was better off where he was. As Ranger got bored of Cole not playing the game, he increased his speed. By the end, they were awesome. We walked all the way home. At one point, we saw about 20 turkeys far into the woods. As they got closer to the pave trail and further from us, a Norwegian Elkhound on her walk spotted them and tried to chase them—pulling her owner along. Of course, that startled the turkeys and they scattered. They were far enough away from us that it didn’t bother the horses. I don’t even know if they saw.


Some of the turkeys took to flight, and it was very pretty to see. Turns out they aren’t as accurate as other birds and a few of them hit some small branches which broke. That startled the horses, but it wasn’t a bad startle as startles go.



We have only been seeing turkeys for 5-6 years, and not so often that it isn’t still a treat when we come across them.