First Trail Ride of the Spring

 

First Trail Ride of the Spring

Kevin checked his calendar, and the last time we crossed the river was January 23.  That is when it got really cold and snowy, and the river started freezing.  I don't mind the snow.  Everything looks much prettier, and the horses seem to like bouncing around it.  Ice is the real enemy.  The ice forms on the river, the ice is on the trail and the driveway.  Of course, some days are just too cold to be out there.

Ellen does have a problem with snow.  It makes her nervous, and if she can't cross the river, it isn't worth tackling her nerves to ride up and down the hill.  She stays at the barn, and rides in the indoor arena, instead.

This year, she has been working really hard on her seat and Dante's training, and the improvements are amazing.  A horse will never perform to their best if the rider isn't doing the same.  For Dante to improve, Ellen had to improve, also. 

And did she ever.  You wouldn't believe the improvements they made this winter.  When she started riding in the arena, Dante, a naturally lazy horse, had trouble trotting more than twenty steps before stopping and refusing to go.  When she did have get him trotting, he would shuffle along with his head low; going as slow as possible.  It was agony for her, and she knew she had to do something.

The new Dante is trotting with self carriage and striding well under himself.  He is even going pretty fast.  Usually Ellen stops him before he stops on his own.  They look so beautiful together.

And all I am doing is riding up and down the hill...wasting time...

There were a few times I rode in the arena.  Some of the days were just too brutally cold to ride outside or there was too much ice.  A couple times it was raining--and then that turned the snow on the hill into ice.

I would work on my problems, and Cole would improve in a few rides--and then the weather would get better, and I would be back on the hill.  The next time I was forced to ride in the arena, he would be right back to where we started.

For the second year in a row, I didn't advance Cole's training one inch--except we did improve our steps for our line-dancing routine.  Ellen did so well, and I just wasted another winter.

A few weeks ago, the weather started to get warmer, and all the snow began to melt.  The ice on the river broke up, and the river got really high.  The weather stayed warm enough for everything to melt away and the river was crossable.  Spring was here.

 

Kevin and I went out for our first ride of the season in the evening.  The temperature was around 60 degrees, and it was sunny.  Everybody and their brother was out in the park--not the best conditions for our first ride, but that wasn't going to stop us.

I wasn't sure how Cole would be crossing the river.  Last fall, he went through a phase where he didn't want to cross.  I was glad when he stepped into the water willingly.  I clicked and treated him.  Before we knew it, we were on the other side of the river; waiting for Starry and Kevin.

Not far from there, our trail goes along a fence, and right on the other side is the paved all purpose trail.  There was a kid on a skateboard heading to the fence.  Kevin suggested that we wait until he got past the fence.  Wouldn't you know it?  As soon as he got there, he turned around and rolled back--then he went back to the fence and did it again.  Kevin said we should try to get ahead of him.  He trotted Starry and Cole followed.  In just a few steps, Cole tossed his head and his hindquarters sunk down--he wanted to go much faster.  I told Kevin we should just walk.  Cole has always been very sensitive around the fence area.  Just past it, the trail turns into the woods and Cole settles down.  

By now, the skateboarder was ahead of us, and we just followed him.  There is nothing like desensitizing a horse by having him follow the scary creature.

There were lots of motorcycles out--but only noisy ones.  Cole has always had trouble with loud motorcycles.  I find the best thing to do with him is to stop him until they pass.  He will seldom spook when I do that.  I learned this trick from Cruiser.  After he bowed his tendon, I was so afraid of him spooking and tearing it again.  Before the bowed tendon, I used to spin him if he took off, but I was worried that might strain his tendon, too--so we just stopped and stood.  Cole was just as good as Cruiser would have been.

We did some trotting, but we mostly walked because Cole was so hyper.  At one point, Cole thought Starry was walking too slow, so we put him in the lead.  He walked very fast and kept trying to burst into a trot.  I put him back behind Starry for a few minutes.  He settled down, and I tried him in the lead, again.  This time, he just walked.

When we got to the next river crossing, we turned around to walk home.  Well, Cole walked.  Since he was walking so fast, Starry had to trot to catch up.

At one point, Cole took off running when I heard a piece of ice break off one of the small frozen waterfalls on the shale cliffs on the other side of the river.  It caused a little avalanche.  He only went a few strides, and I was able to stop him.  This happens every spring, and it didn't surprise me at all.

We made it across the river and up the hill we went.  On the last slope, Cole took off running, and I had to spin him around on the top.  There is a reason we call this "Cole Burst Corner."  I really thought I had him under control on our way up, but he still got me.  At least I had no trouble stopping him.  Starry was just standing down there; watching us.  In fact, Starry was perfect the whole ride.  You would never know it had been over a month since he was across the river.

By now, I had had enough, and I got off and led him down the street.  He was dancing in the driveway, too.  It was a very exciting ride for Cole, but over all, I thought he did well, and it was just so nice to be back on the trail.

The next morning, the temperatures were in the low 30's.  At least with the cold weather, we knew the park wouldn't be as chaotic.  Kevin thought the trail would be frozen, so he didn't bother to put on Starry's protective boots.  We don't trot on frozen trail.  The trail was soft, so he told me to just trot on.  He would walk with Ellen; who was joining us on foot.  I didn't know how Cole would be.  Sometimes when we are out by ourselves, he acts up--and it was a cold day--and it was only his second ride...

I had trouble getting Cole to leave them.  He doesn't mind leaving Starry--he hates leaving Ellen. They are best friends.  Once I convinced him to go, we had the most marvelous time.  We mostly trotted and I even threw in some cantering.  Though he was very fast, whenever I asked him to stop, he did so promptly.  I think he was enjoying himself as much as I was.

We went to the next river crossing and turned around to walk back to Ellen and Kevin.  When we caught up with them, we walked back to the second river crossing, turned around and walked home.

It was quite a lovely ride.

And that is when I realized that I didn't waste the whole winter riding him on the hill.  I was training him just as much as Ellen was training Dante, and we both were very successful.  Neither one of us wasted the winter at all.