Long weekend update

My sister and I had a long weekend—well sort of. She had to work on Saturday. We started out with a nice ride on Cole and Ranger on Thursday morning. She was going to take Dante out solo with me on foot. Unfortunately, we didn’t get far. Dante and Ellen fell in the river. He was rushing across, as he usually does and tripped, and though he tried, he could not regain his balance. The water was a little high and the ground was very slippery. We cancelled the ride and went back home. It was a very disappointing experience.




Friday, the river was too high. Though none of us got much rain at all, it must have really stormed upstream. We did the hill with Cole and Ranger and rode Dante in the arena. I rode him for a while, too. Ellen has been doing very well with him, and he was a total pleasure to ride.



Saturday, I took Cole out on a long ride with my boyfriend, Kevin and his horse, Starry. We were out for two and a half hours and did a ton of trotting and a little cantering. The horses were just wonderful, and we both had a great time. I can’t wait until Ellen can ride with me on this kind of ride. Back when we both had young horses, we rode like that all the time—and we took it for granted. We never even thought that things could change.



Sunday, Ellen and I took Cole and Ranger up to the show ring trails. We trotted all about—and then we did something different—we took the street home. We wanted to try it. They just finished widening the road, adjusting the dips and corners and paving it. In the past, there were bad blind spots and it was too narrow to ride comfortably. We did it a few times due to rivers going up or moving to a new stables, but we couldn’t see doing it often. Well, I’m glad to say it is considerably better. I can envision us taking the street to get to the trails when the weather is nice, but the river is too high to cross.



Both horses behaved. This was Cole’s first time, and he was as cool as a cucumber. He just wanted to explore the yards we passed. It’s only about half a mile or so, so it didn’t take long. It definitely gives us other opportunities to ride.



Ellen didn’t feel up to tackling the river with Dante and just rode in the arena. We did make a decision about what to do. Her confidence is shaken and Dante needs to get more trail rides than once a week. So, we are switching horses. I will ride Dante in the evenings with Kevin and Starry, and she can ride Cole in the mornings. Cole will help her with her confidence—she trusts him more than I’ve seen her trust any horse, before. He listens well, seldom spooks and stops on a dime if you need him to. He will stand like a statue as long as you need him—even if the world is falling apart around you. He’s just that kind of horse—the horse that Dante will soon be.