My Boring Little Life

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Ellen and I were coming home from a trail ride the other day. I was on Cole, she was on Dante, and we had crossed the river and were going up the hill. I glanced back and saw some riders that were behind us starting to cross the river. We heard someone say "walk" really loud. It was hard to make out what was going on because we were looking down through tree branches, but we heard a noise and a splash. A horse went down.

The bottom of the river crossing is mostly smooth, and in the summer it grows some very slippery algae. A rushing horse can easily slip and fall. Ellen and I were watching to see what was happening. We saw a horse come out of the river with her rider following. The horse was loose and heading home.

I hopped off Cole and turned him perpendicular to the trail to block it. On one side of the trail there is a ditch and the other side is a cliff. By now, we knew the horse was Candy. She is a Thoroughbred that did very well on the track, spent some years having babies and at the age of 20 started a successful new career as a trail horse. She lives a few doors down from where we keep our horses.

She was trotting up the hill, and when she saw Cole, she got slower and slower. I had some treats in my hand, and I was trying to lure her to me. I guess somewhere along the way, someone told Candy not to take candy from strangers because she stopped, turned around and trotted back down the hill to be with her friends.

At that point, I turned to look at Cole. He was completely blocking the trail--all parked out like a proper Morgan--looking huge for a horse that is only 14.2 hands. He had no intentions of budging. No wonder Candy gave up. Dante was just eating the underbrush...

In any sort of crisis, there is no other horse I would want to be with more than Cole. He always maintains his cool and knows what to do. The best was the day I had to leave him loose on the trail to dislodge Kevin, who was hanging upside down from his stirrup. Cole stood like a statue that day, too. Whatever we need from him, he gives it to us. If there is something scary, he is always willing to take the lead and show the other horses they are safe. Then there was the day he herded the barn goats back home...

Cole is just an awesome horse

Henry Shows Us Who He Is

Henry is living the easy life, right now. I have only been doing light ground driving and leading lessons. He is getting daily handling, foot cleaning and time with his big brothers. The other day, we decided to take him for a walk on the street.

It wasn't the first time we have done this, and we also have spent a lot of time at the end of the driveway watching traffic. Henry's previous owner told us he was good with traffic, and nothing Henry has done so far has proved otherwise.

We had no intentions of going all the way to the trail. Our barn has 2 driveways. We crossed the street, walked him over to the other driveway, turned him around, recrossed the street and came back. It was a hot day, so I decided that that was good enough.

When I started leading him down our driveway, my sister cautioned me and said there was a motorcycle coming. I thought, "Good. I can see how he is with motorcycles." I turned him around to face the street. That is when my sister said it was more like 10 motorcycles. I was maybe 15 feet from the road. The trees alongside the driveway are pretty thick, so we couldn't see the motorcycles until they were right in front of us. They were very loud and scary. I glanced over at Henry, and his head was way up in the air and his eyes were really big--but he just stood there as the motorcycles went past.

I praised him and petted him, and then we turned around to walk back to the barn. I have been in situations like this where the horse will freeze, but when it is time to move, he will get all prancey and excited. Not Henry. He put his head back down and walked down the driveway like nothing ever happened.

And now I really know who Henry is. He is a sensible horse who is more likely to think before he acts. Maybe he picked up on the fact that Ellen and I weren't afraid of the motorcycles--if so, all the much better. He has been a very unspooky horse, all along, but this was a great test.

I took a business management class 100 years ago before I ever had horses, and the professor was teaching us how to motivate people. It was the first time I ever heard of behavior modification, and little did I know that I would come to use it all the time; though with horses and not people.

There was one thing he said that always stuck in my head. "You can change a person's behavior, but you can't change that person's character." Well, Henry showed me his character, and I really liked what I saw.

Monday, July 27, 2026

Tri on His Solo Rides

A good trail horse needs to safely be ridden with other horses as well as by himself. With Trifecta, and all the horses I've ever trained, the easiest rides are with Ellen walking with us. Some people prefer to start trail riding a new trail horse with other horses, but that is because they have never ridden with Ellen on foot. She intuitively knows the right thing to do at the right time--plus she is good company.

Of course, Trifecta needs to be able to go with other horses, too, so we started up our Trifecta Tuesday rides with Dante. That is when I realized we were actually going to work on solo rides. Tri is a naturally fast horse, and Dante is a naturally slow horse. We can start out at the mounting block together, but by the time I reach the river, they are no longer in sight. Last year, I used to wait. This year, I have been just leaving them behind. I can mostly walk the trail to the next river crossing, turn around and meet them on the way back. Ellen can do a lot of trotting and not catch up with us. If I trot Tri, though he is not a super fast trotter, he still gets down the trail in good time--leaving Dante way back there. When we turn around and walk home with Dante, Tri walks so fast that we leave Dante in the dust. Ellen gets to do a lot of trotting towards home, too. She is always careful to stop well behind Trifecta so we can continue our solo ride. We wait for them at the river and go home together from there. On the way up the hill, Trifecta practices his stop and wait for Dante routine.

The only problem I have been having on our solo rides is random spinning on the way out. I think it is happening for several reasons. First, he is aware of the Dante being back there, somewhere, and he wants to go back to him. The other reason I think may be affecting him is that most of the places he picks seem to be very lush with foliage--and he tries to spin off the trail and refuses to go forward once I get him corrected; often standing in the grass and weeds. I don't think that is coincidental. I do not allow him to snack on his rides, but he is named Tri for a reason. He will always try.

He is getting better, and I seem to be able to get him back on the straight and narrow easier. He did things like this in the arena, too. Somewhere along the way, I came up with a strategy that is effective with him. If I can get him pointed in the correct direction, I stop and stand him. Then, in a deep voice, I say, "Think about it." Most times, he does and proceeds in the direction I want. I have found this to be exceedingly useful on the trail, too. It seems to get him focused and keeps things from escalating.

Dante seems totally content to be alone and away from his obnoxious friend. They are good buddies when they are turned out together, but on the trail, Dante is all business.

Sunday, July 26, 2026

Trifecta on the Second Rivers

When we go on a trail ride, the trail starts by going down a hill. At the bottom of the hill is the river, and we call that the "first river crossing." Then we decide to go to the left or to the right. Either way we go, we end up at a second river crossing. Most rides, we go to the right because it is a nicer trail and prettier. If we go to the left, it does get nice and pretty, but we have to ride a bit to get to the good sections.

It was time to tackle both "second river crossings." We did the one to the left once last year, and it was uneventful. It is a very easy river to cross because it isn't all that deep and is mostly smooth going. We went over that way to give it a try this year. Ellen joined us on foot and was willing to walk into the water to help him across, but it wasn't necessary. Trifecta stepped right in and walked steadily to the other side. Ellen cut over to the street and crossed on the nearby ford. She met us on the other side, and we rode out to the next intersection, turned around and headed back towards home. Once again, he crossed the river with ease.

The real challenge was riding him down the short, steep hill with the road at the bottom. He tends to rush down slopes, but recently, he has gotten so much better. Well, he walked down it like a champ. I was so proud of him.

Our next challenge was the second river in the other direction. That one is tougher because it is deeper and you have to go over a bunch of rocks and around some other rocks if you go one route or through much deeper water than he has ever been in if we go the other way. The rocky way is trickier, but I decided to go that way because I was hoping it would slow him down.

Ellen was with us on foot, but I had done some trotting and left her far behind. I figured that if he didn't want to cross, we could wait until she caught up. I didn't need to worry about that in the least. I rode down the river bank and asked him to step in. After the first step, he never stopped--I couldn't have stopped him if I tried because he was so excited! I threaded him over the small rocks and around the big rocks--ducking under the tree branches and then up the steep bank on the other side. He did go faster than I would have liked, so that is something we will need to work on.

I rode on a short way to the bottom of a hill and turned him around. Immediately, he spun around to face the hill. I tried again with the same results. The little guy didn't want to go home! I was able to turn him around and get him going towards the river. As we neared it, we saw Ellen on the other side.

Now for the part I was really worried about. Remember when I said he tends to rush down slopes? I had ride him down a river bank that is twice as long and much steeper than he is accustomed to. He has bolted down the one at the first river crossing in the past and then tried to trot across the water. I stopped him at the top, took a deep breath and gave him his command for sensible hill descents, "control." I guided him down the slope at an angle to decrease the steepness, and he walked carefully down into the river. What a relief! He did just what we have been training him for. He happily marched across the river--faster than I wanted him to but he was sure footed and sensible.

From there, Ellen and I just walked home together. He is turning into a great trail horses!

Saturday, June 27, 2026

Update on Henry

He's really a great horse! I have to pinch myself to prove I'm not dreaming. At first, I thought there might be something wrong with him, but the vet said he was fine. Then I figured it must be worms, after all, he was on the thin side, so I had the vet do a fecal check. He has a low worm count. Then I thought it might be that he wasn't getting enough nutrition, but after 2 months of Gro n' Win with lots of oats and hay, he is gaining weight and still a wonderful horse. (I think he has grown a little taller, too.)

So I guess we just found a great horse. I have continued doing short sessions of ground driving, and he and I are learning how to communicate. He has had harness training, so a lot of it was about me getting coordinated again and him learning what I wanted. After about 6 sessions, we are walking all around the arena. Soon, we will add trotting. He has been so much more cooperative than Trifecta was when I started ground driving him. He really seems to want to do the right thing--and that reminds me so much of Cole. The difference is that Cole always tried to give you too much. (You want faster? I'll give you a lot faster!) Henry seems to find the right amount.

He continues to get along with the other horses--even Trifecta. They have been playing more, and that's what Trifecta loves to do. Henry just seems to be able to read the room and act accordingly. I have to wonder if that is what he is doing with us, too.

He still hasn't really spooked a single time. When we stand at the end of the driveway to practice traffic, he is really indifferent. He has perfect stall manners and loves to be groomed. Henry was even pretty good for his first visit with our farrier. He is an easy horse to love.

The only thing that can really thwart Ellen's plan to steal Cole from me is if Henry continues to be such a good horse. It's looking that way...

The man that sold him to us has a couple half sisters of the same age that are for sale if anyone in interested.

Tri on the Trail

This is Tri's big year, and so far it is going well. We are getting him out on the trail 2-3 times a week. Sometimes he is just wonderful, and other times he can be so "trying." It often happens on the same ride. The best news is that he isn't doing anything dangerous, and I feel very safe on him.

The easiest rides are the ones that Ellen walks along with me. She has such a calming effect on him. He sometimes gets a little upset when we trot away from her, so we did take a few rides where we didn't go as far but spent our time trotting away from her, walking back and then trotting away again. One day, she suggested cantering. I thought it was a wonderful idea, and he did his best cantering--ever. At the 25th stride, I felt him slowing down a little, so I stopped him on the 27th stride. Since then, he has been getting very, very excited when I try to trot him on that section of trail, so we haven't cantered there since. I have been encouraging him to trot there like a gentleman, and I have seen improvement.

We have ridden a few times with Dante, and that is more like riding by myself since Dante has a much slower walk and a somewhat slower trot. By the second ride, Tri's manners improved considerably with Dante, so it surprised me when I tried to ride him with Cole and he regressed so much. Then, Ellen reminded me that the only time I have ever ridden him with Cole is a few times last summer in the park. I ride with Dante in the arena all the time. We decided we will have to spend some time with Ellen riding Cole and with me on Trifecta up at the barn to work on manners. (This is all part of Ellen's plan to steal Cole away from me and leave me with the babies.)

Cole is a faster horse, so he can keep up much better with Trifecta than Dante. It isn't that Trifecta is that fast of a horse. In the arena, he is moderately paced. It is just that the excitement on the trail makes him go faster down there. I expect that he will mellow out in time just like Cole did. Cole was faster than Trifecta ever was...

The problems I have been having the most with him is when he drifts off the trail and refuses to go forward. Sometimes he does it when I am too far ahead of Ellen or the other horse, but he will even do it if we are following them. After much observation, Ellen and I both agree that most of it is about him wanting to eat the vegetation. He has never been allowed to eat on the trail, but he has managed to trick me up at the barn and grab leaves while we are working. It started back when I was ground driving him and I couldn't see the leaves on the ground ahead of us. When he sees a small branch on the ground in our outdoor arena, he will actually stop and fight with me about it. I believe that is what is happening with us on the trail--and there is just so much vegetation everywhere!

One day, we didn't have too much time, so Ellen walked with us on the hill to the river. We did 2 trips up and down, and for the first time doing this, Tri was terrific. The opens up a lot of opportunities to do more trail riding--either on days where we don't have much time or days when the river is too high to cross. Honestly, I am starting to get restless when I ride him in the arena and really prefer to be in the park. I have Henry now for arena training.

This is the kind of training I love and excel in, and it is great! I see him getting better at some things--and then he will try something new for me to work out. He's never been an easy horse--I think he just thinks too much--but he has always been a fun horse. And we are going to have a really fun summer!