A Most Amazing Trifecta
When Ellen and I have 3 rideable trail horses, we usually ride 2 of them on the first ride, do chores and then take the third horse out for a ride. If Ellen has to go to work, she will drive downs to the park and meet us on the other side of the river. I will cross, go off trotting and meet her on the way back. We then walk to her car, she goes home and I ride alone back to the barn. It was time to take Trifecta on a normal third horse ride. (It has been so long since we had 3 rideable trail horses.)
What a wonderful ride I had with Trifecta. We met Ellen on the other side of the river, said hello and off we went at a trot all the way to the second river crossing. There, not surprisingly, Trifecta decided he wasn't turning around to go home--he wanted to cross the river. I had to circle him to get him in the right direction. Then, I decided to add something new to our ride. We would try trotting towards home. We have been practicing it at the bottom of the hill on the days we don't cross. There is a short section of trail that we just trot back and forth. He understood the concept, and it was time to see how he would do on a real trail ride. Some horses are totally sensible. Dante was from the get go. Cole took a bit. When he was young, he had a lot of trouble regulating his speed--he only believed in fast.
I introduced it the same way I introduced trotting on the trail in general. We trotted a short stretch, stopped, clicked and treated. I wanted to make sure he had brakes. He was very, very excited but was willing to stop. We did it again, and the second time was much better. The third time I tried, he was trotting very steady, and I was so pleased. Suddenly, he slammed on the brakes.
The day before, a large branch had fallen alongside the edge of the trail. We trotted by it on the way out, and he didn't care about it at all, but now the sun was lighting it up like it was shining a spot light on it; and everywhere around it was in the shade. It was something new, and it looked very much like a trail monster.
His head went up, and he told me there was no way he was going to pass it. This is the first time, ever, that something got him that worried. I let him look at it, and he started to step backwards. When he stopped, I let him look some more and asked for a step forward. He hesitantly did--and then decided backing up was better. That is how it went, but eventually he got closer and closer until he was able to gingerly pass it--giving it the side eye the whole time.
We saw a jogger heading our way, and she told us the Ellen was not much further ahead of us. She was right. I thought I would show Ellen what we had been practicing, so I started to trot. He saw her and got very excited. When I asked him to whoa, he just blew right through it. I ended up having to bend him to get him to stop, and then he just walked very fast to catch up with her.
We had a great walk back to the first river crossing and there we parted. It was a proper "Third Horse Trail Ride," and I am sure it was the beginning of many to come.
That ride went so well that I needed to find something more challenging for the next day. Ellen was on vacation, so we had more time. We took Cole and Dante on the first ride and then decided it was time to take Trifecta the other way.
He has been to the second river the other way and crossed it twice, but then we turned around to go home. The trails beyond that point are pretty tricky. At first it isn't bad. The river is on the right with a fence on that side. To the left are trees separating us from the nearby road. At the end of that, the trail comes out into the open. On one side is the busy parkway and the other side is the Fishermen's Wall. It is a stone wall at least 10 feet with the river at the bottom of it. We will usually see people fishing there. There are baseball diamonds across the street, small parking lots along the road and the dread garbage can. It is a lot for a horse to handle. and it goes for about a quarter mile until you are back into the woods.
Trifecta was thrilled to go this direction and all went well until we got to the top of a short but steep hill and a fawn popped up and ran away. Tri was quite startled, and he popped up, too. He settled down quickly and happily hurried down the hill on the other side to the river crossing. Ellen left us to cross on the river ford and Trifecta stepped eagerly into the water. About halfway across, he jumped like he saw another fawn. I looked up and a Great Blue Heron soared right over the top of our heads. At the same time, there was a very low airplane going overhead, and Ellen wished so much that she had her camera out to take that picture. (We are extremely close to the airport, and the planes can be very low there when they are landing.)
He walked quicker across the water, and it didn't surprise me one bit when he ran up the river bank--it was the adrenaline. I am so glad he waited until he got out of the water, first.
Because Ellen was nervous, she decided to hook him to the lead rope for his first venture on this very difficult trail. I would say it was totally unnecessary. He just walked beside her as she pointed out all the interesting things to see. He was excited and looking at everything, but he was amazingly good. He was curious about what he saw, but he didn't over react to anything. And there simply is nothing else to say--it was totally uneventful.
The whole ride was just amazing.
