There was around a week between Trifecta's first and second trail ride of the year due to rain causing the river to be too high. We did do a few rides on the hill, with mixed results.
As soon as the river was low enough, Ellen and I headed for the trail with Trifecta. She was on foot. I usually lead him on the street, and he was doing so well, I just continued leading him down the hill to the river. He was still a bit rushy, but overall, it went well.
At the bottom of the hill, I mounted up and headed to the river. Remember last time when he slipped crossing the river on the way home? Well, it seemed like he remembered it. He has never walked so slow and carefully across the river before. It wasn't scary at all. On the other side, we saw a woman we know on her horse; waiting for us to come across first. I thought he might rush up the bank when he saw the other horse, but he just walked fast and went right past them. Whew, that went better than expected.
He walked along the fence like he did it every day of this life. Once we got a little past the end of the fence, I asked for our first trail trot of the year. He willingly left Ellen and went into a very fast trot. After a few seconds, he decided he would prefer to canter. It was such a nice canter, that I would have loved to keep cantering, but I don't believe in letting any young horse do anything that begins in "Let." as in I "let" him canter because it was so nice. "Let" causes so many problems. I asked him to trot with my voice and reins, and when he refused, I bent him to the right for a couple strides and then bent him to the left. That convinced him, and he came back to a trot and then a walk. We restarted, and he was still over excited, so I switched to doing walk-trot transitions. That went better. We walked for a bit, and then Ellen caught up.
She didn't have that much time because she had to go to work, so we weren't going to go that far on our ride. We were coming up to a good section of trail for trotting--and last year we trotted there a lot. I thought maybe it wasn't a really good idea to trot because of how he just was before, but Ellen suggested reviewing how we introduced him to trotting last year. She would go up the trail a little bit, and I would ask him to trot to her. The first time, we did a very short distance--about 5 or 6 strides. He was perfect. We did it 2 more times; increasing the distance each time, and he was awesome. This is a good exercise because it teaches stand and wait, calm trotting and stopping.
The last big test was going around the corner and down the slope at "Willow Bend." Last year, I consistently had a tough time there. He didn't want to go down it at all. It might be because it is stony, or it might be because he really wants to follow the trail across the street to the picnic area. I really don't know.
At first, I thought he was going to do it, but he swerved away at the last minute. I spun him around and by then, Ellen caught up with us.
Now I will tell you a method that I discovered this winter that really works with Trifecta when he gets this way--the I don't want to go the way you want to go way. I make him stop and in a very deep, monotone voice, I say, "Think about it." We stand for a few seconds, and I ask again. Most of the time, it works. This is the first time I was going to use it in this spot. Ellen started down the trail, I told Tri to "Think about it." and he stepped forward down the trail. He did bulge out on the turn, but I used a strong outside leg to correct him. When we got to the bottom of the little slope, I gave him the ultimate reward. We turned around and headed for home.
He was walking really fast and fussing over the mosquitoes. Ellen had to struggle to keep up. A few times, I asked him to slow down and it worked, but it didn't last. By the time we reached the fence, he realized that he tired himself out with the fast walking and moderated. I clicked him a few times for that.
The last real test was crossing the river. We first had to go down the steep bank--something he tends to rush down. He walked fast, but he stayed at a walk. I eased him into the water and once again, he walked slow and carefully. I stopped him to let Ellen catch up. She had her clippers, so she started to clip some low branches of a tree that leans over the river and blocks our path. Trifecta was completely content to stand in the water and wait for her to finish. We proceeded crossing the river, and he was a dream. I hope this is his new way of crossing, because all last year. he rushed across and it was rather scary. I have had horses fall in the river over there just a few too many times. The careful crossing is just wonderful.
When we stepped out of the river, we waited for Ellen and then walked up the bank. The rest of the ride was easy. Overall, we gave him a B+. I can't wait to try it again.
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