January is a tough month for us. If the river isn't too high, it is frozen. The weather may be too cold and snowy, too. The driveway might be too icy to even leave the barn. To have a great trail ride in January is as rare as ...well, it is just rare.
I have had two of them. New Year's Day wasn't a bad day to ride, at all. Ellen has given up trail riding until spring. She rode in the arena in the morning, and then I headed for the trail on my own. Kevin had decided to wait until it was warmer and Shari was sick.
Ellen drove down to the park and met me on the other side of the river. Cole wasn't happy to be going on the trail by himself. Half way down the hill, I told him, "Find Ellen." I tell him that every time when Ellen is waiting for us. He immediately lifted his head up and neighed. Coincidence? Maybe, but don't forget that Cruiser actually learned it. He would lift his head up, look to the left, look to the right, look straight ahead--and start walking faster. If I did it multiple times, he would end up gaiting. He was not supposed to be a gaited horse, but whenever he was in a hurry and I didn't want him to trot, he would gait. It was fast and smooth, and I loved it. (I really miss Cruiser. He was such a wonderful horse.)
Back to Cole. He found Ellen on the other side of the river, and he was so happy. Since it had been so cold the night before, much of the trail was frozen, and there were a lot of sections that had ice. It was great to have Ellen with us to talk to as we went around the ice and tried to find the softest part of the trail. Cole loves it when she is there. All the horses do.
I was hopeful that the last section of the trail before the second river crossing might not be frozen, and I was right. The thicker trees insulate it, so that it takes longer to freeze and longer to thaw out, too. I left Ellen, and we trotted off. I stayed towards the edge of the trail where the fallen leaves were the thickest, and we just flew along at a trot. It was one of the best trotting we had done this year. (Okay, this was New Year's Day, and it was the only trotting I had done in the year--but it was great.)
We turned at the river crossing, and I asked him to trot towards Ellen. She wasn't in sight, of course. Well, Cole knew she was out there and took off like a bullet, though he was still trotting. I struggled to get him to walk. We walked for about a minute, and I asked for a trot, again. The results were the same. We walked until I could see Ellen, and then I asked for a trot. This time, he was fine. I think that he trotted very fast when he wondered where she was, but once he knew, he relaxed and trotted like a regular horse.
We walked back home. What a treat for New Year's Day.
The following day, I had to take Thunder to the vet in the morning, so I missed my sister's ride. I came out in the afternoon, instead. I seldom ride in the afternoons--preferring mornings and evenings, but it was partly sunny and in the 40s. I couldn't miss it.
Kevin had a teenager riding Starry. They weren't going to cross the river. He was going to have her just ride up and down the hill where he could keep an eye on her. I rode down the hill with them and kept going. Once we got across the river and Cole realized that Starry wasn't with him, he got really balky. I asked him to trot, and he seemed stuck in one place--and kept stopping. I kept insisting, and finally, we got some rhythm.
After a couple minutes, he jumped up in the air and took off. I stopped him, walked a few steps and he did it again! After that, all of our trotting was very enthusiastic. Too enthusiastic, actually. I think he realized he was alone--and then remembered that it meant he didn't have to follow the slower horses. He loves speeding down the trail! We don't do it often, because I prefer riding with Shari, Ellen and Kevin. It is so unusual to be alone, that he tends to get hyper. I didn't have this problem when I used to ride him alone most of the time.
Once again, we trotted to the second river crossing; very quickly. We turned around and walked for a bit to get him to settle down. I knew that he would be in "search mode" once we turned around--either because he remembered Starry was back there, or thought Ellen was on the trail like the day before. I decided to see what he would do if I asked him to trot. I just started to gather up the reins, (I ride with a very loose rein at a walk and with light contact at a trot,) and before I was ready, he leaped up into the air, reached back into his Morgan ancestry and sprouted wings on his feet. He went into a turbo trot! I stopped him, barely, and we walked a while.
Me, being me, I had to try it again. The second time was super, dooper fast, but I felt I had some control. We went for another minute. It is amazing how far you can go in a minute when you are on a Morgan trotting champion. After that, we just walked, and I enjoyed the ride back to Starry on the other side of the river. These days in January are as rare as...just rare. And I wanted to savor it.
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