January in November

January in November

That’s our weather, lately. Yesterday, it was like a very bad January day in November—and I happened to be off from work. Ellen got called in, and she didn’t seem to mind much. We were able to ride together in the morning—in the indoor arena. It was 11 degrees when I woke up and never got past 20. The wind was extra wicked, too. Maggie didn’t even get her long walk that we planned. I just wasn’t ready for this.

Neither were the horses. Cole, Starry and Ranger still have shoes, and the snow kept us at the barn this weekend. Dante doesn’t, so when Ellen had to work on Sunday, I took him out by myself on a trail ride. We had a very lovely time. on the way home, we found Kevin jogging. He walked back towards home with us. After a couple minutes, he asked to switch places. I was getting a little cold, so I was happy to walk while he rode. We passed up home and headed for the access trail. Kevin did some trotting and I struggled to keep up. We then swithched and I rode the rest of the way. Maybe it’s not so bad when Ellen works…

I have been struggling in the arena. Cole’s problem is consistency. We will be trotting about—just fine—and then he needs to snort. Instead of just snorting, he stops and may or may not snort. If he doesn’t, I get him going and then he will go fast, go slow, try to stop and on and on until he finally snorts. Then, he will do better, but if I take a break to do something else, he needs to snort when we start trotting, again. If I drive him forward too hard with my legs or whip, he gets mad and bucks or kicks out.

This isn’t a new behavior. I have been having a problem with it from the beginning. It is just more of a problem because I want to do more trotting now than I used to. Also, since I only have one horse, I want to ride him longer than before.

Here is what I do to try to change his behavior. We start with walk/trot transitions—and I click him for them. I then add more and more steps before clicking to reward him for good trotting. We can do this for 10 minutes, sometimes, and then the urge to snort starts. Why he can’t snort while trotting, I just don’t understand. This will even happen on the trail.

I am still struggling with the right lead. I can often get it the first time I ask if neither one of us overthinks it. If I put him on a bend at a walk and just ask at the magic moment, we will get it, and I immediately click him for it. The next time I ask, he is ready for it and insists that I really want the left lead. Since I have him on such a strong bend, he has a horrible time taking the left lead—I don’t’ know why he tries it. I think the next time I succeed, I won’t click and just let him go with it and see what happens.

I miss the trail…