My boy was in his first parade in Aurora on Canada Day, and he was awesome.

This is a moment of triumph; the culmination of a year and a half of careful work, of diligently following a detailed, specific  training plan, to acheive a horse that is calm and quiet, yet light and responsive to the aids. Quite the change. He is, indeed, a different horse.

The training principles I learned and used are pretty simple, if not easy. A lot of things in life are that way, but I digress. 

I needed to get Oakley used to going out on roads. There are good reasons for this.

First, my friend Jan runs an arena 2.5 km up the road and the 19th Light Dragoons Re-enactment group, that I've started riding with, meets there on Thursday evenings now and it just seems rather ridiculous for me to be putting Oakley in a trailer for a 2-minute drive, when there is no reason why he couldn't just trot up the road. It's not a big distance, and is shouldn't be a big deal.

Secondly, I was always going to ride Oakley in parades and be on display with the Governor General's Horse Guards, and that means he's going to have to get used to roads and distractions.

So of the collection of training principles, a few pertinent ones needed to get him ready, to wit:

• Find a starting point and work from there.

However far away from the end goal, find the starting point and gradually work from there. If he is nervous about just going to the gate, get used to that and then eventually through the gate, and then to the road, &c. 

• The more you desensitize a horse, the less likely he is to react badly to anything new.

Desensitizing a horse is a straighforward process, but is rather too long for a detailed how-to explanation. Suffice to say I worked for the past year and a half to gently desensitize Oakley to ropes being flicked all over him, wrapped around his legs, loud noises, flapping tarps, waving flags, odd objects, flower-boxes, picking up various objects while riding, 9-year old girls running up to him to give him a hug while waving their arms and yelling (which is exactly what my 9-year-old neioce did the first time she saw him -- Don't worry. He just put his head down looking for his hug and we carefully explained to her why she should never, ever do that again, ever..), balloons, plastic bags, plastic bags blowing around the ground, and plastic bags in my pocket full of treats.

• Introduce new things from the ground, first.

Because if the horse has a big problem with something and is going to freak out, it's very much safer to be standing on the ground at the end of a lead rope than spending a few brief seconds upon his back.

• Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard.

I'm absolutely not talking about cracking the whip if he doesn't go forward. Not brute force; no, that simply justifies (in his mind) that refusing to do whatever you're asking was the right move: "I'm afraid of behing hurt if I go near that thing and... wow, look, I'm being hurt! I was right!!" No, just back him off, and make him work, trotting back and forth, circling around, and around and keeping him busy and mind focused on working until he's breathing hard, then let him rest near whatever it is he's spooked by.
Repeat as needed until pretty soon, he actually likes being there.

• How do you get a quiet horse? Put miles and miles under his feet.

Any questions?

Taking all these together, we have a pretty straightforward plan to get Oakley out and onto roads.

So several weeks ago, we bagan by going down to the gate and started to work until now I can open it and close it while mounted.

Then, on a lead-rope, we went out to the road. Then across the road and back. Then about 50 m to the south gate and into the arena. And back afterwards. Adding a little bit at a time.

Last week, for the first time ever, we went out to the road on the lead rope and walked 2.5 km up the hill to my friend's school and back. The road was full of mid-afternoon traffic, and it was garbage day, and all. He behaved exactly as expected. He started out nervous and ended up almost blasé.

At first, he started at everything, nearly jumping the first time he kicked a pop can by the side of the road, was afraid of the first signpost, the first mail box... everything. But, because of all his training, we didn't get into a panic or a wreck. I used the training tools I've learned to get him quiet and past every scary thing all the way up the road and back. We repeated that for the next two days, and he got calmer each time.

After three days of walking on a lead rope, we started riding. Anyone want to know what sidepassing is for? It's for opening gates. Want to know what shoulder-in is for? For turning his head away from scary objects and going past. when he's nervous. Want to know what turn on the haunches is for? For turning back away from something scary, without backing into the road and into traffic when he's all set to do a blind panic. All these beautiful dressage moves have very practical uses out there on the road and its also a great way to practice them! We had a lot of practice, at first.

After a few trips, he is unfazed by Transport trucks, motorcycles, or bicycles; by the pop cans, Tim Horten's cups, plastic water bottles, garbage bags and the other myriad debris typically found along roads in civilized countries. We even inadvertently played "kick the can" up the road for a bit. He didn't even look down.

The only things that are still 'iffy' are pizza boxes (or any flat board lying on the ground), the round sewer-covers, for-sale signs swinging in the breeze, and the rusted old chevy in the grass behind the gas station. Frankly that last one kind of creeps me out, too, but I suspect for a different reason. Anyway, I just turned his head away, so he couldn't see whatever it is that's bothering him and we shoulder-in a few steps past it. No problem.

Oh, and square concrete culvert heads poking out fron under the road. He really doesn't like those.

Finally, it's Canada Day, and it's the big test. He's as ready as I can make him for his first parade. I was a bit apprehensive, because, well, he's a horse and one just never knows.

The trailer arrived to pick us up at 7:45.

He went on without the slightest hesitation. First time he's ever been on any other trailer, and he might have balked, but he didn't. I felt thriilled and did a little victory dance.

In the parking lot, we got saddled and ready and he checked out the other horses and looked around. As we warmed up, he looked curiously about at the pipe band warming up nearby, at the flags going past, at the distant sound of reggae music and O Canada played Calypso style on steel drums. He was perfectly calm, even when another horse freaked out and caused some panic, but Oakley just looked around as we walked, light on the bit, and calm and perfectly well-behaved.

All the way up the parade route, we had the marching band in front, the drum-team behind, and he just looked intently at it all and didn't hesitate, except for the painted turn-arrows on the road. He wasn't at all sure about them. As we walked, he poked his head around the horse beside us to see the flags and waving crowds and was as well behaved as any other horse in the group.

Our first parade was a magnificent success.

I feel so pleased with him I could burst.