Trifecta on Trail

Trifecta on Trail

As I have mentioned, the weather has not been cooperative for trail riding--any horses--let alone a new horse.  I don't want to cross the river with Trifecta unless it is low enough that I can see the bottom.  I also wanted to be able to ride him a few days in a row on the trail.  Things just weren't working.

So, I decided to just do the hill.  A lot can be accomplished riding up and down the hill.  Our hill is about a quarter mile long, and the trail goes just a little past the exit ramp to the river.  There are 2 very steep but short sections, 3 level sections and one longer moderately sloped section.

We have been doing 2 trips at a time with Trifecta.  Ellen walks along with a lead rope, which she will attach to Trifecta whenever there is a problem or she just gets nervous.  

It also helps her to keep up with us.  It is the strangest phenomenon that we both experience.  If we are leading a fast-walking horse, we can keep up.  If we are just walking next to a fast-walking horse, it is hard to keep up.  It is just the oddest thing.

And Trifecta goes fast when he is on the trail.  It is because he just gets so excited.  He really enjoys himself.  The speed does give us a problem, though.  He goes too fast down the steep sections and wants to trot, which is unacceptable.  We came up with a solution.  With the help of clicker training, Ellen walks ahead of us, stops and Trifecta walks to her and stops.  Of course, he gets clicked and treated.  In the beginning, it took 3 clicks to get down the slopes, but now we can do it in 1 or 2.

This actually teaches him a lot.  First, he has to stop and stand while his best buddy is leaving him.  That is his biggest challenge.  He must wait until I tell him to walk.  He then has to walk like a gentleman and stop in front of Ellen.  He gets clicked, and then we repeat it.

It has worked marvelously, and sometimes we just do it without Ellen's help at all.  Most of the time he does pretty well.

We started to do the hill 3-4 times a week.  Sometimes he gets to see other horses and that is challenging for him.  We practice our "whoas" and "stands."

He is still not entirely consistent on the road.  Every now and then, a vehicle will startle him.  We only have to go a few hundred feet on the street to get to the trail, fortunately.  I lead him to the trail.

Taking him on the hill has actually helped his arena work.  When we go back to the arena, he is more enthusiastic about it.  I think he likes the variety.  I really feel the hill work is time well spent.