Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Monday, May 4, 2020
Relax Mode
Relax Mode
Shari and I are starting to integrate something new into our rides--cantering. I have cantered Cole plenty on our own and fairly often with Ellen and Kevin. When I ride with them, I take the lead at the canter because Cole is so fast. He can be like a bullet when he canters. Without a doubt. he is the fastest horse I have ever ridden. (Keep in mind, I have had just about no experience with Thoroughbreds.)
Bella likes to be the leader, and Cole has no trouble being a follower, so I decided it was time that he learns how to follow at a canter. One day, when the horses were being very good, I suggested to Shari that we try it. We did it on a particularly good, but short section of trail. They were fast, but they were good. It was only when we were finished that Shari told me that she hadn't cantered Bella on the trail in years--since the one day she was cantering her in the arena and Bella fell and Shari broke her shoulder. That is when I told her that Cole never cantered behind another horse before. We were both working on something very new for us.
Since then, when it is just the two of us riding and the horses are in the right mood, we have done little sections of cantering. My biggest problem is getting Cole to take up the canter. It seems he prefers to trot really, really fast. Since I love riding a very fast trot, I am still enjoying what we are doing. Bella is cantering fast, but not crazy fast. We have no trouble keeping up with her.
The problem that Bella was having was that she got very excited after cantering. She would be doing the Bella dance/prance. She wanted to canter again! Shari just wanted her to walk and settle down. This was happening every time.
You can't put two clicker trainer in the same room, (or on the same trail,) with a problem without them trying to find a solution. I suggested that Shari click Bella the moment she quiets down. I felt that Bella might not know what Shari wants of her, so she is suggesting what she wants. This way, Shari can explain it to her. Walking quietly with a lower head, (remember, she is a National Show Horse,) is what Shari wanted, but Bella didn't understand. Shari decided to call it "relax mode."
It only took a few rides for us to notice a huge difference. We would canter, Bella got wound up, Bella put her head down and walked, Bella got clicked--and Bella remained walking with her head low.
Shari practiced this only a couple of times that last ride, and then Bella just decided to keep her head relaxed all the time when she is walking. She went from National Show Horse to Quarter Horse. The transformation is amazing.
I have to wonder if she is simply just happier with her head lower. It makes sense. It may be a self-reinforcing behavior. Once Shari was able to show her that it is a more comfortable way of going and it was something she wanted her to do, Bella agreed with her. Bella likes "relax mode."
Sunday, May 3, 2020
Saturday, May 2, 2020
The Passing of a Great Horse
It is with much sadness that I tell you that we lost our beloved Ranger last week.
Over 25 years ago, my sister, Ellen, was looking for her first horse. A friend of ours told us about a horse that was for sale at her barn. She didn't know much about him because he came from the Sugarcreek auction.
His current owners saw him at the auction and liked him, but they were too slow in making a decision and he was sold to the meat man. Afterwards, they found him in a pen. It was the wrong pen. When the meat man's horses were loaded onto the truck, he wasn't with them. Ranger must have been born under a lucky star. The women thought that he was a Tennessee Walker, so they offered to buy him from the meat man.
A Tennessee Walker he certainly wasn't. They took him out on the trails, crossed water and discovered he had a fast, ground-covering trot. Now they were looking for a home for him.
It would be nice to say it was love at first sight for Ellen, but she was hesitant. He was the best horse we looked at, and when we asked his owners if he had a fast trot, they assured us he did. This was important because my horse, Cruiser, could really trot fast, and we were looking for a good horse to go with him. It was another big plus with us that he was willing to cross water. He seemed like a good horse, so she took the chance.
We didn't know how old he was or what kind of horse he was. Since he came from the Sugarcreek auction, there was a chance he was Amish. He did have the Amish haircut of a very short tail and very little forelock. Also, it was evident that he didn't have a lot of gentle handling in his background. He was terrified of vets, hated farriers, impossible to paste worm and not very friendly. He tossed his head a lot in the warm weather. At first, we thought it was bugs, but we later determined it was his sinuses. That alone would make him a lousy buggy horse and could be the reason he ended up at the auction.
I always have said that he was "Such a singular horse."
Within a few months, Ellen and I were riding together all over the place. Not only could he trot as fast as Cruiser, but sometimes he was even faster. The miles would just melt away. His canter was even awesome. We had so much fun out on the trails--they were the best times of our lives.
Over time, the head tossing became a distant memory. He became very friendly with us and he really seemed to enjoy his job. Cruiser and Ranger became best buddies. Mingo was born the spring that Ellen got Ranger, so Ranger helped to raise him. (He couldn't trust Cruiser with such an important job.) After all, Ranger was the king of our herd.
Ranger loved to be the leader on the trail. The problem was that Cruiser did, too. If Cruiser tried to pass Ranger, he would snarl at him. That wouldn't keep Cruiser from passing, though. Then, we would stop and return Cruiser to his proper place.
Range's favorite game was to slow down and tempt Cruiser to pass--and then make faces at him as he did. Cruiser fell for it every single time.
If Ranger ever got worried about something on the trail, he would send Cruiser in front to face it; as if to say that Cruiser was expendable, so he should go first. Once Cruiser cleared things up, Ranger would take the lead again. Unless there were a lot of bugs. Ranger liked to walk close behind Cruiser with his face in Cruiser's tail to keep the bugs off of it.
Did I mention our trotting races? Cruiser always lost, eventually, because he would start to canter.
They were so much fun to ride together that when Mingo was old enough to go on trail rides, I would take him out by himself or have someone else ride him. It wasn't until Cruiser bowed his tendon and I had to ride Mingo with Ranger; that we did very much of it. Ranger was in his teens at the time. Mingo was a very slow horse, and that is when Ranger learned that he didn't have to go so fast, after all.
Mingo died, and I brought Cole into the herd. Ranger taught him to stay in his place. To this day, Cole is happy to follow the horse ahead of him and is even a little afraid to pass other horses. A few years later, Ellen got Dante and as she did more with him, Ranger gradually slipped into retirement.
And it was a retirement that he thoroughly enjoyed, too. When Ellen first got him, he was a quiet horse. Over the years, he found his voice and became the most talkative horse I have ever known--and it wasn't only at feeding time. I loved hearing him talk. He made his wishes known--after all, he was the king.
He kept the other horses all in line--particularly Starry. They would bicker all day, but when Starry went out for a ride, Ranger was so upset that we had to put another horse in Starry's stall to quiet him down.
We miss him so much--words can't even express how we feel, so I won't try. He was such a lucky horse to escape death at the auction, and Ellen was such a lucky person to find such a perfect first horse. Those 25 years he almost didn't have were 25 spectacular years filled with exciting rides and tender moments--and they were too few.
Friday, May 1, 2020
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