An Evening Ride with Bella

It was a beautiful afternoon for late December.  I was supposed to ride with Kevin in the afternoon, but when I got to the barn, he and Starry already left without me.  He left a note saying that he would meet me on the way back.  He wanted to go on a longer ride.

I hurried and saddled up Cole Train.  As I took him out of the barn, I could see Shari's bright yellow vehicle stopped at the end of the driveway.  That meant she got out of work early, and I would see her on trail, too.  I waved an acknowledgement, and she drove off.

Cole and I headed down the hill.  He was neighing--he knew Starry was up ahead.  He walked much faster down the hill than he would normally walk.  I had one very excited horse on my hands--he felt like he was just going to burst.

Once we crossed the river, I asked him to trot.  Not 20 seconds later, he launched into a gallop!  I got him to stop in about 10 strides and made him stand for a few moments to calm down.  I knew that he was just anxious to catch up with Starry.  We walked a few steps, and he seemed okay.  From there on, we trotted--really, really fast.  Cole Train was full-out Cole "Steam" Train--it was fun.  I was so proud of him--he didn't break out into the canter--he just trotted faster and faster.

I expected to see Starry near the second river crossing, and as I rounded the last bend, there they were.  He was just standing and waiting for us.  I stopped Cole before we got too close to keep him from turning into a rocket.

As we got nearer, I could see Kevin was talking to a young lady--and giving her carrots to feed to Starry.  Yes, she was another pretty blonde.  I told him there was a trend, but he denied it.

We turned around to head home--just walking, so that we didn't run into Shari too soon.  I wanted her to have a good trot before seeing us.  We found her not too far off from where I estimated she would be.  Bella was doing her own version of the "Steam Train."  She knew that we were up ahead and was just as excited to find us as Cole was to find Starry.

Kevin is always trying to get out of riding with us because he is worried that Starry will misbehave.  (And it has happened.)  He talked us into turning around and going back to the second river crossing so Shari didn't have to cut her ride short.  He would head on home.  It looked like we had enough time before dark, so he didn't have to try too hard to convince us.

Once we left him and got to a spot where we like to trot, we did.  Bella, as always, was in the lead.  Cole was quite hyper about his favorite mare being with him and tried to burst past her.  I asked Shari to stop.  I reminded her that this happened last time when we were over there after a long time of not riding together  She remembered, and said we had a plan to fix it--but neither of us remembered what it was.  We continued at a walk and chatted.  Then, the plan popped into my head.  We had to "Do the Dante."

All summer, I worked with Cole to teach him to trot quietly behind Dante when he really wanted to go much faster.  All Shari had to do, in theory, was to slow Bella down.  She did--and it worked like a dream.  Cole remembered how to "Do the Dante," and we trotted without incident to the second river crossing.  Success!

We turned around and headed towards home.  They were good, so we decided to try the trot, again.  Cole did even better--and then Bella jumped at something.  We came to a screeching halt and decided that maybe we should just play it safe and walk home.

Bella had other ideas.  She wanted to trot and was jigging this way and that.  Shari decided it was time for a clicker lesson.  She asked for a couple steps of a walk--and when she got it, she clicked and gave Bella a treat.  She repeated this a number of times--adding a few more steps each time before she clicked.  In just a few minutes, Bella was walking quietly with her head low for a National Show Horse.  Clicker worked again.

That is one of the reasons I like clicker training.  It is a way for us to gently show our horses what we want them to do--rather than fight with them.  Bella wanted to trot there--because that is what we usually do, and Shari just had to show her what we really wanted.

The rest of the way home was uneventful, and we made it just before the sun went down.  It was a great ride for everyone--and a real treat at the end of December, here in northeast Ohio.