One day off + Mild fog = Spooky Monster!

Annual Trail Rides: 11/200

I arrived at the barn after a day of rest for Q. As I walked across the parking lot, Q popped up his head as usual and approached the fence. We began the first steps of our greeting ritual. He is second from the bottom in the pecking order of the three geldings and one stud colt, but he is BFF with the alpha gelding. So when I arrive, the others usually give him a wide berth as he races to the gate. I clip on his lead, he slinks out, I shut the gate, he gets a treat, and we move on. Lately the geldings have been barging him while at the gate, which spooks him and he abandons me. So these last few weeks I have tried a new trick with him, doing all the steps except not clipping his lead. This allows for a faster exit from the paddock, but does mean that he is loose. But since he is waiting for his treat, he sticks to me like glue and I just clip on his lead on the outside. One of the boarders caught me practicing this new trick and was totally amazed.

But as usual, Q taught me this trick. Like a few others.

So Im crossing the parking lot, and we begin our ritual. The BO comes out with her adorable and enthusiastic puppy who slams into me and I rub him all over. Out of the corner of my eye, I see that Q has moved away from the fence but I pay little attention to this detail because our greeting ritual is so well established. I start chatting with BO and she tells me she wants to ride with me on Monday! Great I say, we will be in fresh powder! “Do you want to see my new trick”, I say? 

I proceed to the gate, but Q is not there. I keep chatting with the BO while I try and get Q to come. No go. I walk the fence line to entice him to come, talking of the bananas I have for him, while still chatting with the BO. He finally approaches the gate. But he is on the wrong side. I keep chatting, and Q keeps ignoring me. I finally let him out through the open gate, the BO panics (safety!), but I know Q is going to turn around and stand next to me. But he doesn’t. He walks off, starts trotting towards the barn. The BO shouts out to the barn crew “loose horse”! Q stops at the door, paws at some snow to find some lingering grass. And I finally catch him.

Everybody has a good laugh and chastises me for lack of safety.

And I recall this happening with my previous horse during lessons. As soon as I would start talking with my coach, the connection would disappear. Like if somebody had dropped the telephone. Instant disconnect.

We headed out on a solo ride that day. Our 11th trail (and 12th ride) of the year. He was spooky and reactive in the misty woods but nothing a little trotting and cantering couldn’t solve. We did a six minute walking warm-up then 2 minute sets of alternating trot and canter. Then twenty minutes of 5 minute sets of trotting and cantering and finished up with a five minute walk up and down moderate hills. It was a 40 minute fast ride that left me in a sweat, and Q bone dry. We had some lovely cantaloping on the buckle that really is the gold star of relaxation.

I came back home to realize that I had already made a mistake in my counting of trail rides so far. Pretty happy with our progress and now we have a new storm that should dump almost a foot of snow on our solid base. We should have some good riding days ahead of us. Maybe we hit 20 rides by the end of January? Not impossible.