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 that, I was prepared, and he never succeeded in the spin, but he would shake his head a lot and try to go faster if we were going towards home.  It was a little rainy one day when my sister was going to ride him, and she put his bug bonnet on.  That did the trick, so he mustn’t like the rain hitting his ears.  Cole Train is a sissy.

I only experiences drizzle with him—not real rain—up until just recently.  Kevin and were planning on going riding one evening, and though the clouds looked ominous—I just wasn’t in the mood to ride in the arena.  We gambled and lost.

It was a short ride, and just about at the turnaround point, we started to hear thunder.  The clouds weren’t too dark, so we thought we might be able to make it home.  No such luck.  It started to drizzle.  Cole started to shake his head and prance.  He didn’t want to walk—he wanted to trot.  Since it is against the rules for him to change gaits, I insisted on walking.  The thunder became louder and though Cole didn’t spook from it, I started to get nervous.  Kevin was counting the seconds between the lightning and thunder and telling me how close it was.  The lighting was now right over us.  Cole was prancing.

I decided to dismount.  I waited until he seemed calm—I didn’t want to reward inappropriate behavior by dismounting.  When he was quiet, I hopped off.  I know that when I get nervous, he gets worse.  I do better on the ground.  Besides, my legs wouldn’t get as wet, and I would stay warmer.  Though it wasn’t windy, yet, I didn’t want to be in the saddle if a tree went down.  Been there—done that already.  It isn’t much fun when a tree falls while riding.  I have lost count of the trees that have fallen while I am riding Cruiser.  He seems to be getting used to it.  Cole hasn’t experienced it, yet, and we had enough going on with the rain desensitization.

He was still bouncy, but as each minute passed, he settled down.  Once he was completely soaked, he was fine.  He started to walk slower.  Kevin didn’t have to keep trotting to catch up with us.  Finally, Cole found a nice tree, stopped and stood under it.  He found good shelter, I think, and he wanted to wait out the storm.  He wouldn’t budge.  Kevin passed us up on Starry and Cole reluctantly followed.  Starry is a pretty slow walker, and the rain didn’t speed him up in the least.  If anything, he seemed slower.  I convinced Cole to pass Starry and that sped us up—until he found another good tree.  That’s how it went until we got to the river.  There, I mounted, and we crossed.

The rain was lighter, and Cole wasn’t concerned anymore.  He took the lead and Starrry followed along.  By the time we got to the driveway, the rain stopped, of course.  We knew that would happen all along.  Kevin announced that he was there, “for Cole’s baptism.”

Since I had a jacket on, I didn’t get as wet as Kevin in just a t-shirt.  I also had a dry sweatshirt in my car.  He took care of Starry and headed home to get warm.  I saddled up Cruiser and went out for another quick ride before sunset. 

We stayed dry.