Dante Kicks It up a Notch

Dante Kicks It up a Notch




It came time to canter Dante. Ellen tried it in the arena with no luck at all. He just trotted faster. We wrote his old trainer for advice, and he was very helpful. Still, Dante only trotted faster.



Plan B—try it on the trail. Ellen and Dante were out with Cole and me and we were at our favorite place to canter. I asked Ellen if I should canter Cole and see if that would tempt Dante to give it a try, and she said to go ahead. Since this is Cole’s favorite place to canter—he was off like a bullet. We got to the next place to cross the river, looked back and there was Dante, trotting along. Ellen said he didn’t canter, but trotted fast for her for the first time. after that, whenever we got to a good stretch of trail, I would ask Cole to trot fast so Ellen could enjoy the new speed. This made me happy. Regardless whether Dante ever cantered—I no longer had to hold Cole back.



We didn’t get to ride together until the next weekend.



When we got to our favorite spot to canter, we decided to tempt Dante again. This time, I made my transition a little closer to Dante to tempt him even more. As we pulled into the lead, I heard Ellen say, “He’s cantering. He’s going really fast. I’m scared.”



I replied, “Do you want me to stop?”



There was silence for a few seconds, and then I heard, “No. This is fun.”



Since Ranger hasn’t been cantering much, anymore, and certainly not as fast has he used to, Ellen just wasn’t used to the faster speed. It didn’t take her long, though. Dante didn’t do any of the silly things that Cole did when I first started cantering him on trail—like bucking, squealing, grunting or bolting away. He just simply cantered—fast and smooth.



They have cantered with us since then, and everything has been going well.