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 Ranger and all the other horses I have ridden him with. The time we spent teaching him not to pass another horse without permission has truly paid off. It just makes things so much easier. I spent too many rides struggling with Cruiser to keep him from passing horses up because he wanted to be in the lead. Cole is happy to follow or be in the lead, and he will stay wherever I put him.

One day, I was riding Cole with Ellen riding Kevin’s horse, Starry. Starry was being too pokey for us, so we decided that Cole should lead. I asked him to trot past Starry, and at first he was reluctant. With continued leg pressure, he eased past—and then went into his big show trot! He did that twice during that ride. Ellen said he was doing a “victory trot.”

Cole is improving with his trotting towards home—particularly if he is with another horse. He will just match that horse’s speed. I think that trotting with Ranger towards home quietly encouraged him to trot by himself, quietly. Those long rides we took by ourslves where we were so far from home helped, too.

I decided to introduce some trotting on the hill leading to the barn. You can’t get much closer than that. This is a handy thing to be able to do when we want to do multiple trips on those days when we can’t cross the river.

The day we tried, the river was too high to cross and I had been working Cole in the arena. We first did a little trotting back and forth on the bottom, as we have in the past. He was so relaxed, that I knew his mood was right for the lesson. We trotted to the base of the hill and stopped there. We then walked quietly up a short distance. I asked him to trot, and he went slowly and calmly. I knew, in my head, where I wanted to stop. It was about halfway up the hill. Wouldn’t you know it—about 10 strides before that, Cole realized he was going towards home. He lunged forward a couple strides and burst into a canter. Since we were still on an incline, I was able to bring him back to a trot, we went a few steps and then we stopped.

Now, our main hill rule is the last trip up has to be at a walk. We never want the horses to think they can run home. I immediately turned Cole around to walk back down the hill. He refused to budge. I had to give him a few solid kicks, and he begrudgingly stepped forward. Once he started to walk with an enthusiastic stride, I clicked and treated him. He was fine, then, all the way to the bottom.

We turned around and walked home. He stayed at a walk—never offering to trot.

A few days later, I had an opportunity to repeat the lesson. I did it the exact same way. This time, he trotted quietly up to the spot I wanted to turn around. He seemed to be trying to figure out how to carry himself up the hill the best way. I could feel him adjusting himself every 4-5 steps or so. I chuckled inside. He was learning that hills are work!

When I asked him to turn around, this time he did it readily. He got a click and treat for that. He strided down the hill with his usual eagerness, and he got clicked, again. We turned at the bottom and walked home.

We have been doing some cantering, but he hasn’t been consistent. Some days, I can get it on the trail, whether we are alone or with Ranger, with great ease. Other days, he acts like it is an impossible task. I would say that I get about half of the transitions. For the other half, I either get a big buck or a faster trot. I don’t click him for the transition, because the one time we did, he slammed on the brakes and he went sliding down the trail.

I have had very little success cantering in the arena. It has been discouraging, but I am sure it will work out in the end. I just wish I had a few more months to work on it on the trail. I feel that if we can succeed there, the arena will be easy. He does have a great canter…

I know that realistically, I won’t be out on trail much more between now and spring. Good weather with a crossable river to happen on the weekend is a rare and wonderful thing in the winter. I sure will miss my trail riding.