Ranger Tests Us

It’s not often I mention that Ranger is having a problem, and that’s because he is a fairly consistent horse.  Every now and then, he throws in something to keep my sister, Ellen, on her toes.  Well, he did it, again.

One day, back in November, he acted very strange during tacking up.  We…

I worked both horses in the arena, last night. Cruiser is being consistent and each ride he’s improving slightly. At this rate, he will be 30 years old by the time I get him where I want him. We worked mostly on straightness. He has been bending to the right when going to the left. This never used to be so prominent, so I think that some of it might be the stiffness of old age. If Cole had the same problem, I would know it was more me than Cruiser. We added small circles to the right to our…

The Best Trail Riding Month of the Summer—November



After a record amount of precipitation this year, where we were rained out weekend after weekend, vacation after vacation, we finally had a good month for riding. Usually November is a crummy trail riding month. What a treat it was. Ellen and I even had vacation time that we were able to get out and cross the river.



I was able to put on a lot of miles with Cole. Much of it was with Ranger. He is behaving beautifully with…

In the interest of using my vacation time up before the end of the year, I took another 4-day weekend off with my sister.  We had icy cold weather, very hot weather and weather in between—but what we didn’t have was rain.  We were able to cross the river on all 4 days.  It was great to ride so much.  The horses were good, for the most part.  Cole did get a little funny towards the end of the ride, Sunday, but that is all.  I think he was remembering the day before when his lunch was in his…

It was a lovely weekend here in Ohio.  Friday evening, I rode both my horses in the arena.  Nobody was at the stables, so I didn’t have to share the arena.  Cruiser seemed a little more settled down, and he continues to act normal.  Cole did a perfect turn on the haunches on the first request.  Not bad for never having done it, before.  The other direction didn’t go as well, but that’s how things always are with horses.

Saturday, my niece came out to ride with us.  She rode…

My sister and I took Tuesday off to ride, and what a pretty day it was.  The temps were warm and it was sunny.  First, we took Cruise and Ranger out on a 1.5 hour ride with a lot of walking so we could talk and just enjoy the day. 

   When I got back, I took Cole out on the same ride, but as always, when I take Cole out, it is a training ride.  He actually was a little balky at the beginning of the ride, and I had to tap him with the whip to explain that stopping wasn’t an option.  He…

I took yesterday off from work because they were forecasting perfect weather—and they were right.

Cole and I went on a 2:37 hour ride. He wasn’t quite as good as last time—he went through a balky stage, tossed in some squeals and spins during the ride, and it took a little more work to settle down his trot towards home. We did canter 4 times for short distances, and that was really nice. He didn’t do the mad gallop that I have gotten in the past, but an actual canter. After…

There was only a little daylight after work and the river was too high to cross, again.  I rode Cruiser up and down the hill three times.  He was quite energetic, and even did some gaiting up the hill.  (Cruiser has standard gaits, but he also does a stepping pace when he is excited.  He can get quite fast.  He must have gotten it from his Morgan side, as there are gaited Morgans.)  When we got back to the barn, it started to rain, lightly.  Perfect timing.  It rained the rest of the…

**Lindsey Forkun Equestrian advocates for you to wear a helmet

Trail riding is an excellent way to mentally stimulate your horse, build physical fitness for both…