Preparation Payoff

A few years ago I began working with a trainer I love and respect, Regina. One of the preparatory things she had me do was to lunge Tweed and look for two things: his attention and if he was lifting up and carrying himself.  

It is the attention piece that saved me on Thursday’s trail ride. 

When I ask him to move out on the circle, if his attention shifts to anything other than me (watching his ears) I turn him to move the opposite way. When he is moving nicely, and maintaining his attention, I stop and ask him to face me. As he relaxes, I see if he can maintain that attention and keep looking to me for guidance. If he shifts his attention outside, I ask him to move again.  

When you’re out on the trail, and something unexpected happens, the hope is that they will stop and wait for your lead rather than instantly bolting. 

I went out on a 2 1/2 hour ride with an old friend whose horse is 28 now, but still able to do light trail work. Actually, he was remarkably sound for his age. 

He’s also steady Eddie and makes a fantastic trail partner for Tumbleweed. 

As we passed that section of the river (above) a dark set of clouds blew in and engulfed us. It brought wind and rain with it. The weather app hadn’t predicted it and it didn’t affect our house, only five miles away. It was just a freak occurrence. 

What’s even stranger is that it came over as we entered a dense grove of trees known to be a favorite resting place for deer. 

I’m always cautious riding the trail there, as it is a steep drop off to the river. There is another path around it, but I chose the narrow river path anyway. 

My friend’s horse was in the lead at that point. 

As we were about half way through we heard crashing through the trees to our left (cliff edge on right) and Tweed’s head went right up, body on full alert. (Flight mode). 

He thought about bolting, but the path was too narrow and he was behind my friend’s horse. If he had been in front, it may have actually been less claustrophobic for him and I would have moved him forward and out of the dense trees.

I stopped and surveyed, but could only see flashes of color here and there, running the opposite direction alongside us. 

I turned Tweed towards where they were exiting into the open, and one after another an herd of deer emerged and walked off. 

I then dismounted, my friend joined me, and we allowed Tweed to watch them for awhile and get to a place of relaxation. 

When he was relaxed, I remounted, asked to lead through, and finished the same section with no issues. 

That happened about 30 minutes into the ride, so we still had a lot of trails to cover and Tweed only got better and better until he was as relaxed as I’ve ever seen him. 

(Stopping to examine a ribbon. They were setting up a weekend trail horse competition.)

I was thankful for our preparation that taught him to stop and wait even when his instincts told him to bolt and runaway. 

With time, he will become used to these sudden surprises. In fact, I asked my friend if her 28 year old former ranch horse reacted at all and she said no. That’s pretty impressive! Hopefully, I can say the same long before 20 more years expire.

I follow a trainer at “Steady Horse” who takes this same ground preparation even further. Here is a link to one of his videos, but he has put out several. I’m going to add his tweeks to my own warmup. 

There is a difference, however, between ground and saddle. I was happy that Tweed waited when he really wanted to run away, but he got the most relaxation when he could actually see me on the ground next to him. The bolting energy disappeared when I stood by his side.

It is rare that I dismount nowadays, that’s the first time this year, and in a different situation, a different terrain, I probably wouldn’t have. But you only get a few seconds to choose your response and that seemed best for that moment. The way he rode out the rest of it seemed to justify that choice.

Little by little, trail mile by trail mile, we will merge the ground relationship into the saddle relationship more fully. But for that level of surprise, and not being able to see what was running through the trees (for Tweed it could have been a cougar for all he knew) I think he did spectacularly well.

I should add, we ended the ride by taking a downhill trail into the same area he spooked at the deer (we had come almost full circle) and he didn’t react at all or show any residual fear from before. 

Today our aunt arrives for her 90th birthday week celebration, and there won’t be another ride until Friday. Time to get cracking!

Happy June trails to you all!