And Then the Next Day

And Then the Next Day

A big reason that Ellen has had so many anxieties about trail riding this year is because she has gone so sporadically.  Not once, has she ridden 2 days in a row--until now.

I met her in the morning for ride #2.  It was really hot and humid, this time.  We took Ranger on his morning walk, and the sun was so hot--and the bugs were so bad--that we ended up doing at least half of the walk in the indoor arena.  It definitely wasn't going to be as pleasant of a ride, weather wise.

Warmer weather works in our favor, though.  It settles horses down.  Lots of bugs does not.  It makes the horses jittery.  Which would it be for Dante?

She led down the hill to the mounting block, once again.  I started across the river, first--and Dante followed without much trouble at all.  What a delight!  I didn't have to wait, swarmed by bugs, on the other side for them to work out their problems.

As soon as we crossed, we went right into trotting.  Dante was slow and steady.  Cole and I practiced trying to go slow and steady.  Sometimes, I had to correct him for getting too close to Dante, and sometimes he just stopped and walked because they were going to slow for him.  Ellen seemed so relaxed.  She was enjoying it--big time.

We turned at the next river crossing and trotted back much of the way.  We would have done more, but we wanted them to cool down.

Our biggest obstacle, of course, was crossing the river to get home.  Ellen had been to anxious to do it on most of the rides, this year, and we have had to switch horses.  She gathered her 20 seconds of insane courage and headed down the bank.

He stalled out a few times, but she pushed him on.  She didn't want to fall into the trap of him being stuck on the bank, again.  He conceded and walked down the bank like a gentleman; carefully stepping through the very bad mud at the bottom.  She clicked him when he stepped into the water.  As she was giving him a treat, an airplane flew over.  She asked him to stand for it--and he got another click.  Then they proceeded across.

When she got to the other side, she turned him sharp to the right--just like I did--to keep him from bolting up the bank--and then she did something I didn't expect--she continued riding up the bank instead of dismounting like I have been.  (Remember, he bolted 3 times up the bank for us this spring--and tried to bolt a few more times, and I thwarted him.)  Once again, Dante was a gentleman.  She got off at the top of the bank--the ultimate reward.

Dante was awesome--and so was incredibly brave Ellen.

There was a fair amount of planes on the ride, and Ellen just stopped Dante and gave him a treat for standing.  Instead of being frightened like earlier in the year, he just begged for a treat.  He seems to have gotten over his fear--now Ellen needs to, also.

I must mention that Cole was awesome, too.  We couldn't have done any of it without him--being patient and following my instructions to the letter--to make it as easy for Ellen and Dante as possible.