We couldn’t cross the river on our ride last night—too high.  I rode with a friend, Julie, who was on Kevin’s horse, Starry.  We went up and down the hill 3 times.  We trotted on the level parts.  Starry didn’t see the point in it all.  Cole thought trotting was great fun and Julie said that he was floating off the ground.  Yes, Cole can truly trot.  That was his extended trail trot.  He has a bunch of trots, but that’s the one that just eats up the miles.  It seemed like it would take only…

My riding has been sporadic and abbreviated since we have been taking care of my Dad.  I didn’t get out at all on Saturday, so my sister-in-law took pity on me and said she’d start her shift a few hours early on Sunday so I could get a longer ride and be able to spend time with Kevin.  I jumped at the chance.

I took Cole up to the show ring trails.  It is the first time since this whole thing started that I could ride somewhere different.  It is only the second time I rode…

Raanger - number one splashing horse

The Last Ingredient

Cole Train isn’t afraid of much and is quite a bold…

Clicker on the Trail

For those of you that have been following my adventures on Cole, you know that he is my clicker horse.  I bought him as an unridden 4 year old, trained him for the saddle and headed down the trail.  I have trained horses for trail before, of course, but Cole is the first horse that I have used a clicker to help me from the beginning.

I thought I would write a book on clicker training and trail riding, but then I realized I didn’t quite…

My life stinks, right now.  I won’t go into the details—those who know me well already know.  But due to great tragedy, my riding has been curtailed.  Instead of ridiing 5 days a week—I went 5 days without riding.  I didn’t even get to see my boys.  My sister and boyfriend were able to pick up the slack—keeping the stalls cleaned, turnout and leading Cruiser for me.  I am grateful for their help.

Here is what I learned.  Cruise doesn’t mind being in semi retirement.  He…

Starry and My Niece

My boyfriend, Kevin, was helping my brother pick up my older niece from college.  That left me with Starry and no one to help with my barn chores.  My younger niece enthusiastically agreed to come out and take Starry on a ride and do the watering when we were done.

 …

Update on Evening Rides

Remember Cole Train—the horse who became a handful on evening rides?  Well, things have improved immensely.  All I had to do was just keep riding him on the trail in the evening.  Our schedule has us out three nights a week.  Each ride, he gets better.  He has improved so much that I keep forgetting he used to be a problem.…

What a wonderful weekend to ride!  The temperatures were wonderful, the sun was shining and the mosquitoes haven’t started yet.  I took Cole on a short ride with my sister and boyfriend on Friday evening.  The horses were great.  I then took Cruiser on a short, fast ride, and we had fun. 

Saturday, my younger niece came out to ride.  She rode Ranger, my sister…

Two Years Ago, Today…

Two years ago, today, I bought Cole Train.  Seventeen years ago, today, Mingo was born.  He died a month before I bought Cole—and I bought Cole to replace the hole in my heart.  It is hard to believe that Mingo was such a young horse when he died.  I bred and raised him all myself, and he was the sweetest horse.  I still miss him.

Anyway, back to Cole.  It has been an exciting 2 years.  He went from being afraid to step on pavement to an…

A Long Fast Ride

I love riding with my sister—no one is better than her.  We usually ride together only on the weekend, and I look forward to it so much.  There is only one problem.  I have a young horse and she has an older horse.  We aren’t sure how old Ranger is, but he has to be over 20.  He has arthritis in his hind legs that has made it impossible to put shoes in the back, and that’s where…

Cole Train in the Rain

Sure, he used to live outside.  That doesn’t mean he likes rain.  He has the good life, now.  No rain—unless I am riding him.

The first time we got caught in the rain, he immediately tried to turn and run home.  That took my by surprise.  After…

Wildlife on the Trail

We ride in a very urban park, and see a whole lot of people, but we still see a lot of animals, too.  The most common thing we see is the white-tailed deer.  They are all over.  Sometimes they startle the horses if they move suddenly, but usually they aren’t a problem.  Cruiser likes to chase after them.

We see the usual amount of chipmunks and squirrels.  We actually have red squirrels, fox squirrels, gray squirrels and black squirrels. …

Working on Our Little Problems

I have had Cole for nearly two years, now.  When I got him, he had had a saddle on his back, but that’s as far as his training went.  We have come a long way, and he has given me much to write about.  Now that we have accomplished most everything I wanted to, I fear I am going to run out of things to write about and will start to bore my readers. …

I’m back from a 4-day weekend that was mainly for riding with my sister.  We had so much fun.  Thursday, we went on a 2-hour ride with Cole and Ranger.  We did a lot of trotting on the way out and a little on the way home.  The horses were great.  We went on a trail that neither horse has been on since last year.  It was great.  When we got back, I took Cruiser on a short ride.

We weren’t sure how they would feel on Friday, so we went on a shorter ride with a lot of trotting…

Well, we had a great time at the Bruce Springsteen concert, but then how could big fans like us not?  Three solid hours of rock and roll.  There’s nothing like one of his concerts.  I went with my boyfriend and his 2 daughters.

To keep this blog horse related, did you know that his daughter rides and shows?  This could be why some of the songs he’s written in the last few years mention horses. 

One song is titled “My silver palomino” who is “Sixteen hands from…

Had a great ride—actually 2 great rides, yesterday.  The first was on Cole with my boyfriend and Starry.  I think my boyfriend is getting a little crazy.  He always complains that his horse goes too slow, and he does.  Well, he speeds up with another horse.  We started out trotting with Starry in the lead—and I saw my boyfriend tapping him lightly with the whip every few strides.  I was hoping for a quiet trot, and he wanted just to go faster and faster.  Cole took it all in…

Good news for the horses!  Cole must of just had a stone bruise, as I was hoping.  Throughout the week, I soaked his hoof and hand walked him.  Thursday, the farrier came out and couldn’t find any trace of an abscess.  By then, he wasn’t even limping in the least.  Friday, I did my leading out on the hard and stony drive, and he was fine.  I rode him on Saturday and Sunday, and he was sound and a joy to ride—even though he had a week off.  I took him out with my sister and her horse,…

Here in Northeast Ohio

I haven’t blogged lately, because I have been overwhelmed with life.  I won’t go into it, here, but it has just been a tough time.  I don’t know if it will get better, either.

To add to my problems, over the weekend, Cole became lame.  As far as I could tell, it was either a heel bruise or an abscess in the heel area.  I have had a lot of experience with abscesses from my times with Mingo (chronic abscess for years—with 2 operations that…

I took Cole Train on another solo evening ride, and he was great—even though it was a chilly evening and I hadn’t ridden him the day before.  I think the problem has been solved.  I doubt if I will ever have a hesitation in taking him out, alone, again.  Of course, he will be 6 in a couple weeks.  I have found at the age of 6, horses grow up.  He certainly has been acting very mature. I really do feel like I bought a winning lottery ticket with him.

We did our usual short…

Cole Train only gets better.

Well, I blogged last week about Cole’s first evening solo ride of the year.  Evening rides have been his Achilles heel, for some reason.  He will do great in the morning, but the next day he’ll be a different horse in the evening.  I think we may have left that problem behind.

I graded his first solo evening ride of the year a “C.”  A couple days later, I tried it again and he got a “B-” due to some spooks, breaking into a canter a…