After having scouted out Vasquez Rocks on foot last December, me and some friends from our local ETI Corral decided it would be neat to go back and ride the trails there. Lucky for us, one of our sister ETI Corrals was sponsoring a trail ride there so we figured we would hook up with them. Unfortunately, bad weather got in the way so the ride was postponed until January 18- today.
We left the stables pretty early and arrived at Vasquez Rocks a little bit after 8am, the official opening time. Max was a bit wound up when I unloaded him from the trailer (no issues loading, thank god!) but soon calmed down. It was intermittantly windy and warm- roughly 70 degrees and it warmed up was the day progressed. I soon had Max saddled and ready go and while waiting, I made Max perform a number of dessage manuevers to take his mind off of the new environment. Max seemed to calm down and start paying attention to me. With the wind and other horses, Max was naturally a bit more excited than if it had been just me with no wind blowing. Factors to consider.
We left the stables pretty early and arrived at Vasquez Rocks a little bit after 8am, the official opening time. Max was a bit wound up when I unloaded him from the trailer (no issues loading, thank god!) but soon calmed down. It was intermittantly windy and warm- roughly 70 degrees and it warmed up was the day progressed. I soon had Max saddled and ready go and while waiting, I made Max perform a number of dessage manuevers to take his mind off of the new environment. Max seemed to calm down and start paying attention to me. With the wind and other horses, Max was naturally a bit more excited than if it had been just me with no wind blowing. Factors to consider.
The work I've been doing with halt/transitions and side-passing has really paid off in helping get Max's mind off of what's going on around him and focusing his attention on me. This was to come in very handy, if not essential, during the ride.
There was roughly 20 riders and we left the assembly area at about 9 am and began to make our way down a series of trails that would ultimately take us in a loop. Some of the trails had changed due to erosion and such so at several points we had to backtrack and find new trails. It was a bit nerve-racking stopping on an uphill or downhill because Max would begin to get nervious- I don't think any of the horses liked that situation so max wasn't the only one.
Unlike the last group ride I took last August at Morro Bay, Max was fairly well behaved and when he'd start to get jiggy or agitated, I used half-halts, collection, and occassional sawing of the reins to bring him back. The key, I think, is to not jam hard on the bit and lock it there. In that past I think this was contributing to my problems with Max with him getting buzzed up and excited. Also, I sought to constantly relax myself and breath deep. Also key was that I used both reins. This seems to give me better technical control and I'm able to excercise much finer control on his mouth and perform better half-halts. Overall, the goal was to keep focusing his mind on me rather than the situation.
The wind was extreme at some points and we really got hit when we'd ride along a ridge. Also, an inteesting thing is that there's a tunnel that runs underneath the 14 Freeway that connects with other horse trails so you can ride further out. I wasn't daring enough to ride the tunnel so I waited along with some of the other riders while a few tried it out. I think the next time I'll check out the tunnel. It's pretty wide and has a lot more light (at least given it was a clear day around 11 am) than the one running under Wentworth Street back home.
One sticky part was when we began to descend down one trail that turned out to be too steep to safely descend. We had to basically turn around and backtrack up the hill we were coming down from. I managed to get Max to turn around on his haunches with no problem but it definately got the blood pumping. Max was quick to act and I think he figured that we were going to turn around- it took very little prompting.
We finally made it back to the assembly area by Noon and soon after we were ready to go home. Max did his usual refusal to get in the trailer but then complied after I growled at him (thank god!). Overall it was a nice ride and definately a good training opportunity for Max. Things appear to be getting a bit better for Max in group situations so I hope there's more improvement.
< There was roughly 20 riders and we left the assembly area at about 9 am and began to make our way down a series of trails that would ultimately take us in a loop. Some of the trails had changed due to erosion and such so at several points we had to backtrack and find new trails. It was a bit nerve-racking stopping on an uphill or downhill because Max would begin to get nervious- I don't think any of the horses liked that situation so max wasn't the only one.
Unlike the last group ride I took last August at Morro Bay, Max was fairly well behaved and when he'd start to get jiggy or agitated, I used half-halts, collection, and occassional sawing of the reins to bring him back. The key, I think, is to not jam hard on the bit and lock it there. In that past I think this was contributing to my problems with Max with him getting buzzed up and excited. Also, I sought to constantly relax myself and breath deep. Also key was that I used both reins. This seems to give me better technical control and I'm able to excercise much finer control on his mouth and perform better half-halts. Overall, the goal was to keep focusing his mind on me rather than the situation.
The wind was extreme at some points and we really got hit when we'd ride along a ridge. Also, an inteesting thing is that there's a tunnel that runs underneath the 14 Freeway that connects with other horse trails so you can ride further out. I wasn't daring enough to ride the tunnel so I waited along with some of the other riders while a few tried it out. I think the next time I'll check out the tunnel. It's pretty wide and has a lot more light (at least given it was a clear day around 11 am) than the one running under Wentworth Street back home.
One sticky part was when we began to descend down one trail that turned out to be too steep to safely descend. We had to basically turn around and backtrack up the hill we were coming down from. I managed to get Max to turn around on his haunches with no problem but it definately got the blood pumping. Max was quick to act and I think he figured that we were going to turn around- it took very little prompting.
We finally made it back to the assembly area by Noon and soon after we were ready to go home. Max did his usual refusal to get in the trailer but then complied after I growled at him (thank god!). Overall it was a nice ride and definately a good training opportunity for Max. Things appear to be getting a bit better for Max in group situations so I hope there's more improvement.
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