Winter Riding

Winter Riding

After having a warm fall--and a long one, too, winter has arrived.  We had 2 good winters in a row, so it
was unlikely that we would get a third, and so far, it has been crummy.  The temperatures have had
highs in the teens and lows in the single digits, and there is no end in sight.  In this kind of weather, it
is even hard to ride the horses in the indoor arena!

But we do.  Cole has settle down to work, and he seems to be not far off from where we were went
we quit riding in the arena last spring.  I still get a little nervous in there, at times, but I keep reminding
myself that he is 11, now.  He has grown up.  Overall, he has been living up to being 11, too.  

Dante is Mr. Reliable in the indoor arena.  Where I try to settle Cole down, Ellen tries to liven Dante up.  
He has performed remarkably, and he has been very consistent, too.  Ellen has to find new things to t
ackle to keep things interesting for both of them.  With Cole, just trying to ride his arena trot is usually
a big enough challenge for me.  I keep trying to extend the distance between the transition and losing
my seat.  As I improve, his trot becomes loftier--and then I have to try to improve, again.  At least he
keeps me entertained--and very warm.

Since Kevin doesn’t ride in the arena, he is more limited.  He has taken Starry down the hill a few times.  
I joined him on Christmas Eve, and we were able to trot back and forth on the bottom--in the snow.  
Since then, it has been so cold that I decided to stay inside.  He has continued to ride on the hill.  
I think he likes to get his money’s worth out of his snow pads.

The river had thawed when we had a week of warmer weather, but it is freezing up again--and may
stay that way until spring.  This is a hard time of year for us trail riders.

Riding the Loop

Riding the Loop

Winter is here.  Trail riding becomes difficult because just a quarter mile down the trail we have to
cross the river.  Once the river starts to freeze, as it did earlier in the month, all we can do is ride up
and down the hill if we want to go on a trail ride.

That used to suffice in years past, but this year, the hill is a miserable place to ride.  The park decided t
o fix it, but they made it worse.  One good section, in the middle of the hill, they thought the could
improve.  They got a bunch of clay and they spread it over the trail.  In doing that, they completely
covered the drainage ditch that runs alongside it, and filled in the culvert that drained the water away.  
Now, when it rains, the water drains right onto the trail; creating a little pond--that freezes, of course.  
Also, the clay is thick mud.  The horse hooves chop it all up--and that freezes, too.  It is no place we
want to ride.

That leaves us the loop behind the barn as our only good outdoor riding spot.  Cole is pretty good back
there, now.  When I used to work and had to ride at night, I would ride him there on the mild nights.  
Ellen used to ride Dante back there when I worked, and she didn’t have anyone to ride with.  She
introduced him to it, and right away he was great.

That leaves Starry.  Kevin never spent much time back there.  He always preferred riding up and
down the hill.  I did, too, until the park tried to fix it.  He was hesitant to come out and ride the loop with
us, but we were finally able to convince him.

Because it is within eyesight of the barn and goes along our outdoor arena, which often has horses
turned out in it and the neighbor’s pasture, it can be a tricky place to ride.  It is only about a quarter
mile, so that means that we want to do it more than once.  Each time they come around the corner
that faces home, they would just as soon keep going.  We also see a lot of deer and turkeys in the
woods alongside it.  (Sometimes even a fox!)

I must have ridden Cole there a dozen time before he settled down--and he does get a bit antsy on
it when we haven’t done it for a while.  I don’t think Ellen had much trouble with Dante in the early
days, but Ranger was a challenge.  Cruiser did pretty good, but that is mostly because I spent so
many days walking him back there when we were doing his physical therapy for his bowed tendon.

Over the years, Kevin did take Starry back there occasionally, but not with much success.  He had
a reason to be reluctant.

Now, you are probably bracing yourself for a long, drawn out story on how we taught Starry to
behave.  Don't’ worry, he was great the first time out.

It was a case of setting Starry up for success.  To begin with, Kevin free lounged him for 10 minutes
before he went outside.  That way, he was in the right frame of mind.  Then, we made sure he--not
only wasn’t alone--he was with his two best friends!  

We figured that Starry would be happy to just follow Dante, but as soon as Kevin mounted, he
marched right out in the lead.  He was very excited to be out on the loop.  It took less than a lap,
and he settle right down to follow Dante.  

We have gone out there a few times, and he has been good.  Only once, when he joined Ellen as she
led Ranger, did he act up.  Kevin had to bring him back the the barn.  The next time he was with
Ranger, he was fine.

The hill may be inhospitable, but it is still nice that I can go out and a “trail ride” with my best friends
when we can’t cross the river.

Brenda Goes Flying

Brenda Goes Flying

It was a beautiful December afternoon for a ride.  Brenda joined Kevin and me on a trail ride.  
Her horse is Archie, a huge Quarter Horse gelding.  We have ridden with Brenda plenty of times,
but I seldom mention her because Archie is a pretty good horse.  He does have the slow Quarter
Horse gaits, so he has trouble keeping up with us.  If we trot, he needs to canter.  Well, it is a
Quarter Horse lope.  Unfortunately, if he has a lot of energy, he will throw in a buck now and then.

We crossed the river and started trotting on the other side.  That didn't last long because we saw
Paula and Chris on their way home.  We slowed down and exchanged greetings.  Once we passed,
we began to trot, again.  Kevin was in the lead, followed by me.  Brenda, with the slower horse,
was behind us.  After only about 30 seconds of trotting, we heard Brenda yell, so we immediately
stopped and turned around.

I was the first one to see Brenda on the ground; motionless.  Archie was galloping down the adjacent
paved bike path--going away from home.  We both leapt off our horses and headed for Brenda.

Do you know how it is when you are in a crisis situation and time slows down?  Well, I think that is
just what happened.  Though we couldn’t have been 50 feet away, it seemed to take about an hour
to get to Brenda.  We were calling and calling her name, but there was no answer.  I thought she was
dead.  Archie came cantering back down the bike trail, turned and went towards Brenda.  He saw that
she was useless and turned towards us, but he didn’t go on the trail.  He trotted through the underbrush
and ended up stuck on a pile of logs--with a sapling wedged along his neck.  Being a smart horse,
he decided to stay still until someone came to help him.  I stopped Cole by Archie to keep him quiet
and Kevin continued the long trek towards Brenda.

Time isn’t the only thing that slowed down--so did Starry.  I have never seen him walk so slow--ever.  
We continued to call to Brenda.  I saw her leg move--she was alive!  Kevin kept dragging Starry to
Brenda.

A couple cars saw there was a problem and stopped.  We now had some help!  One man called 911.  
The other man asked us what he could do.  I asked him to hold Cole while I untangled Archie.  
Kevin finally got to Brenda, and she was unconscious.  

I carefully maneuvered Archie out of his predicament.  I glanced back at Cole, and he was bowing.  
With Archie safe, I thanked the man; relieved that Archie wouldn’t be running towards home.

I could hear Kevin telling Brenda not to stand up.  That was a good sign!  While I was untangling
Archie, she came back to consciousness and was becoming feisty.  I held the 2 horses, still at a
distance from them.  The man who called 911 was now by Kevin.  They were both trying to convince Brenda to stay down, but she had enough of lying in the mud and slowly got to her feet--and nearly fell right over.  They caught her and held her up as she swayed back and forth.  She was in really bad shape.

I managed to get the horses over to her.  She wanted to go home.  We wanted her to stay until
help came.  She was talking slowly and slightly slurred.  The emergency responders called us back
and asked for further directions.  They weren’t far away.  Brenda took Archie and started walking
away.  She just wouldn’t listen.

I got back on Cole because he kept bowing to get my attention.  At least if I was on his back,
he wouldn’t bow.  Well, that didn’t last long--here came a huge firetruck with its light flashing!  
The part of the trail that were were at was right by a fence that separated the paved bike path--which
was right by the street.  The truck was coming right to us.  I hopped off--only to see an ambulance
and ranger’s car heading our way, too, with their lights flashing.  I am so glad they didn’t have
the sirens going, too.  

I am glad to say that all 3 horses didn’t care in the least.  Brenda just kept walking away.  The driver
of the fire truck asked me if I was all right.  His truck was very loud, so I shouted to him it wasn’t
me, and pointed to Brenda and said she was getting away.

He backed up his truck and intercepted her.    They were talking when I caught up to them and pulled
out the stretcher.  Now that the professionals were there,  we could work on the problem of Archie.
 It was getting dark, and we had to get Archie home.  I quickly ran the options through my head.
 I have never used Cole for ponying, so that wasn’t the greatest idea.  We had to cross the river to
get home.  It would be hard to lead 2 horses across--the greatest risk would be for the leader slipping
on the slate bottom and falling--not to mention the water was cold.  

Since we weren't that far from the barn, I volunteered to ride Cole home and get my car, drive to the
park and ride Archie home.  I gave Archie to the ranger to hold.  Kevin stayed with them, too.  I trotted
Cole off, crossed the river and headed up the hill.  Once across, I tried to trot.  He got all excited, and
I realized I would be safer to walk up the hill fast than to trot.  Cole did go very, very fast up the hill at
a walk, and we were home in no time.

I saw Chris in her car, and the light bulb went off in my head.  I asked her to give me a ride down to
the park.  That way, I wouldn’t have to leave my car--and it might be good to have another person
to help out.  She was glad to do us the favor, and it turned out to be a great thing.  When I got back
down there, the ranger gave me Archie and asked Chris to stay.  Brenda was refusing to go to the
hospital and would need a ride back to the barn.  They certainly didn’t want her to ride Archie back.

Kevin and I walked the horses to the river.  I didn’t want to bother adjusting the stirrups on the western
saddle, and since Archie is so tall--and Brenda is so short---I couldn’t mount from the ground. There
is a log there that we intended to use as a mounting block.

As soon as I got on, I realized that Archie was trained much different than my horses!  He was trained
as a proper western horse, and had a curb bit.  The lightest contact made him back up.  I accidentally
neck reined him to the left--and then to the right.  Ooops!  Immediately, I knew that I was only going
to ride him across the river and then lead up the hill.  I was a fish out of water on his back--and with
no stirrups!  I had Kevin go down the river bank first, and I asked Archie to follow.  He was fine.  I
hopped off as soon as I got through the muddy river bank on the other side and led him home.

Brenda was back at the barn when we got back.  She still seemed out of it, but she was walking
around.  Bending was impossible.  Her hip seemed to be bothering her.  We didn’t want her to drive
home, but there was no stopping her.  We had her promise to call us when she got home, so we
would know she was safe.

She kept her promise.  By then, her hip was so bad that she decided to go to the hospital to get
it xrayed.  Turned out nothing was broken.  She did have a concussion, of course, but they checked
and there was no bleeding on the brain, so that was good news.  She is very, very sore, though.  
I was just happy she wasn’t dead--because there was a minute there that I thought she was.

She fell because Archie bucked as she tried to keep up with us at a canter.  She wasn’t that far away,
so I think it was caused by high spirits on Archie’s part.  Brenda didn’t want me to write about the experience because she was embarrassed by it, but there isn’t anything to be embarrassed about.  Accidents happen, and it could have been so much worse.  She also said there wasn’t anything anyone could learn from this--but there was.  She did one thing right--she fell in the mud.  At least she had a little cushion when she hit the ground.

So, if you are going to fall, aim for the mud.

Starry is a Superstar

Starry is a Superstar

Starry, the only horse in the world named Starry with a blaze, has come so far.  Over the last month, he has become a reluctant leader.

It hasn’t been easy.  We tried a lot of things--and kept the ones that seemed to help.  Clicker training worked well to help him pass, but Kevin didn’t want to give him a treat every time he passed a horse, so Starry would revert, after a while.  

It did backfire. In a way.  Kevin would say “Good boy,” click and then treat.  Starry started to stop whenever Kevin just said “Good boy.”  He changed it to “Good job.” It worked.  Kevin had a way to praise him when he was good.

We avoided even trying in the places that Starry was particularly reluctant to take the lead.  Turning around to go home was simply impossible.  We would wait until we got down the trail to ask him to lead.  

We tried to avoid conflict when making him the leader.  Certain places were easier to put Starry in the lead.  A good time to do it was when we were crossing a river.  We used that to get him in the lead without a fuss and leave him there.

As we chipped away at his resistance, things just started to get easier.  If we were trotting along and he slammed on his breaks to get Cole to pass, I just turned Cole away and left him.  When he saw that Cole, not only wasn’t passing him--but leaving him--he would start walking, again.  As soon as I saw that, I would turn Cole back around.  In a short while, Cole only had to go a step or two away.

Of course, the heart of the problem was passing Dante.  I now try to guide Starry with Cole leading him by Dante.  Kevin tells him, “Good job,” and we lead him down the trail for a little bit.  Then, I can pull Cole off to the side of the trail to let Starry pass.  If he doesn't pass willingly, I bring Cole behind Starry and away he goes.

In the beginning, this didn't always work.  In the last few rides, it has worked marvelously.  We are now a well-choreographed team.  He will even take the lead when we turn around to go home--which was impossible, before.

We are so proud of Kevin and Starry for solving the problem.  We know there are still going to be moments when Starry acts up, but we know what to do to help him through.  Starry is a Superstar.