In contrast to yesterday, today was relatively clear, sunny and a bit breezy.
Today, a bunch of us decided to hit the trails (the ones we're still allowed on) and head up to the Sheep Pens (about the only area we'e legally able to ride in, thanks to the Station Fire last year). Lately, Max has been acting a bit full of himself on the trail, especially coming back to the stables (no surprise) so this gave me an opportunity to work on this some.
Today, all the horses (and one Mule) were pretty "goey" so Max was constantly being left towards the rear so I'd have to continually trot him out to catch up. Some of the people I ride with have horses with a pretty long stride and most of the time Max doesn't have an issue with it but today was somewhat different. Also, the Mule is pretty long-strided and this didn't help (plus the Mule has a bad habit of pushing himself forward past other horses if he feels he's going too slow- definitely a rider issue there that needs to be addressed).
The only way I can really manage it and have a somewhat pleasant ride (not a great ride) is to let Max trot forward periodically and use half-halts while walking and try to maintain as light contact on the mouth as possible. Also, sometimes when he gets to a gully or hill, he gets excited and likes to run so I have to check him sharply in these areas.
Everything went pretty well although I think Max was having trouble with the pace- he has problems with an extended walk ("power walk", as I term it) and we weren't trotting so he's kind of stuck. Every so often, he'd get himself bound up where he's almost self-collecting so I'd have to bump him into a trot to get him to extend his body and loosen him muscles. I'd then pull him back.
Of course the moment we started to head for home, Max then picked up his pace and wanted to move as quickly as possible- which I prevented. Just to work him a bit, I blocked every effort he'd make to trot with a half-halt. He didn't like it but he complied.
When we got back to the gate leading towards the stables, I purposely made Max stand and wait until the riders had gone up the ramp and disappeared from view. Max definitely didn't like that but I made him stand. After about 5 minutes, I then made him walk up the ramp.
Pretty mundane stuff here, I'll admit, but the issues I have with Max fit a lot of horses when they go out on the trail. One of the biggest problems on the trail is when the gaits of the horses are mismatched- the most extreme example being a Tennessee Walker with a group of ungaited horses. While you're going to have issues such as in the case of gaited vs nongaited hores, in many cases it's a matter of the horse not being trained and/or the rider either not paying attention or allowing the horse to act up. I've been guilty of this in the past and as a courtesy to my fellow trail riders, I try to keep Max in check and if it's really bad, I'll opt out of the ride.
Anyway, I strive to constantly work with Max to make him a good trail horse and while it doesn't always work out, most of the time it does. Happy trails!
Today, a bunch of us decided to hit the trails (the ones we're still allowed on) and head up to the Sheep Pens (about the only area we'e legally able to ride in, thanks to the Station Fire last year). Lately, Max has been acting a bit full of himself on the trail, especially coming back to the stables (no surprise) so this gave me an opportunity to work on this some.
Today, all the horses (and one Mule) were pretty "goey" so Max was constantly being left towards the rear so I'd have to continually trot him out to catch up. Some of the people I ride with have horses with a pretty long stride and most of the time Max doesn't have an issue with it but today was somewhat different. Also, the Mule is pretty long-strided and this didn't help (plus the Mule has a bad habit of pushing himself forward past other horses if he feels he's going too slow- definitely a rider issue there that needs to be addressed).
The only way I can really manage it and have a somewhat pleasant ride (not a great ride) is to let Max trot forward periodically and use half-halts while walking and try to maintain as light contact on the mouth as possible. Also, sometimes when he gets to a gully or hill, he gets excited and likes to run so I have to check him sharply in these areas.
Everything went pretty well although I think Max was having trouble with the pace- he has problems with an extended walk ("power walk", as I term it) and we weren't trotting so he's kind of stuck. Every so often, he'd get himself bound up where he's almost self-collecting so I'd have to bump him into a trot to get him to extend his body and loosen him muscles. I'd then pull him back.
Of course the moment we started to head for home, Max then picked up his pace and wanted to move as quickly as possible- which I prevented. Just to work him a bit, I blocked every effort he'd make to trot with a half-halt. He didn't like it but he complied.
When we got back to the gate leading towards the stables, I purposely made Max stand and wait until the riders had gone up the ramp and disappeared from view. Max definitely didn't like that but I made him stand. After about 5 minutes, I then made him walk up the ramp.
Pretty mundane stuff here, I'll admit, but the issues I have with Max fit a lot of horses when they go out on the trail. One of the biggest problems on the trail is when the gaits of the horses are mismatched- the most extreme example being a Tennessee Walker with a group of ungaited horses. While you're going to have issues such as in the case of gaited vs nongaited hores, in many cases it's a matter of the horse not being trained and/or the rider either not paying attention or allowing the horse to act up. I've been guilty of this in the past and as a courtesy to my fellow trail riders, I try to keep Max in check and if it's really bad, I'll opt out of the ride.
Anyway, I strive to constantly work with Max to make him a good trail horse and while it doesn't always work out, most of the time it does. Happy trails!
No comments:
Post a Comment