Yesterday Odin the Mustang and I were able to get our respective acts together to meet a friend for a trail ride. Since we have had to work on going through the squeezy dark places lately, I assumed/thought/hoped that this work would translate back into the trailer loading work that we have done in the past.
Well… mostly it has but Odin still has a strong “I don’t want to” attitude about trailer loading. I try to make the deal as sweet as possible by offering cookies when he gets in nicely and waits. He wants to do this because I am asking him to and horses have a strong sense of cooperation. However, he still doesn’t want to, doesn’t see why we need to do this exercise (after all, he doesn’t know where we’re going). Eventually persistence (mine) pays off and he gets in, stands to be tied after the divider is shut.
Odin is a bit of a sweaty mess when we arrive. This shouldn’t be a comment on my driving as I try to make it as smooth as possible. The road is windy though. He unloads faster than I would like but I let it go for the moment and allow him to relax and graze a bit.
Since I haven’t ridden him for a month because of all the snow we received in February my plan is to tack him up and walk him up to the trailhead then decide whether I will walk on the ground with him or get on. I find it a bit harder to keep his attention on me when I’m hand-walking him. He wants to snort at mailboxes, shrubs, and lots of other distractions even though the horse in front of him is mellow and peaceful. He assumes a non-trusting attitude. I ask him to walk with me so that I can look out for the both of us. Eventually he settles a bit and by the time we get to the trail head I feel okay about getting, knowing that I can get off any time if things don’t seem right.
The mounting block is a stump and I use a stick from the ground to ask him to slide his hiney over to me so I can reach the stirrup. When he does, I know he’s going to be okay to ride. Plus it’s a slick trick and nice to show off in front of your friends!
We ride and talk, Odin startles at something and starts trotting up the hill. I don’t think he’s going to trot for very long because it’s uphill and he’s had no significant exercise in a month. To my surprise he marches right along for a couple hundred yards and I ask him to slow down to a walk because the horse behind me isn’t that enthusiastic about trotting uphill, I’m stupidly concerned about his fitness, and selfishly I was in the middle of a very important story when he trotted off.
Shortly after we slowed to a walk, we reached snow. The footing was fine, no ice balls formed underfoot. More importantly all the snow had melted out of the trees so we weren’t having to deal with snow bombs falling on all sides. After his reaction to snow sliding off the barn roof, I’m very grateful we didn’t have to stay calm among snow bombs.
At the next junction we opted to turn around as the snow was only getting deeper. And it was surprisingly dark in the forest for a sunny afternoon. We also wanted to keep the ride short and simple in part because Odin was on high-alert with mini relaxation breaks for the last several hours. He definitely became more relaxed as we neared the trail head but then was on high-alert again when we got to the gravel road. We let them graze for a bit near the end but Odin wasn’t relaxing as much as I would’ve liked. In fact, he had this strange kind of quivering reaction for a moment, which might’ve been a giant release of all the tension he had been holding.
I let him hang out in a paddock for a bit before loading, which didn’t seem to help at all. He just didn’t want to go in but I wasn’t going to let him live there. Part of the problem is that I’m a bit uncoordinated and unpracticed with a long lead rope but when I retrieved my stick and string, suddenly I was confident and not going to take no for an answer. He got in and stood nicely while I shut the divider and secured the rope.
Back at his home, Beege was running around vocalizing because Canyon was being worked in the arena. It wasn’t the most peaceful scenario for unloading quietly and Odin backed out in a rush. I asked him to get back in a couple more times until he could back out slowly and calmly. When he did, I let him graze before taking him back through the barn to the field. Once in the field, I took off his halter and he followed the other horses to the upper field. I think he was done with me for the day. I’ll give him today off and see him tomorrow. We’ll keep it easy: walk through the barn and graze on the other side.