Comments | glenatron: Out on the trail

glenatron

Out on the trail

Dec 08, 2013 22:20

On Friday I went out on the kind of ride that is the reason we own horses.

( A bright morning and a fine horse with long legs for running )

photos, iris

Comments 10

spirithorse21 December 9 2013, 02:48:21 UTC

I want your trail riding place. That sandy lane looks awesome!

glenatron December 9 2013, 09:57:43 UTC

We're pretty lucky to be on sand- the trails don't get too muddy even in rainy winter days and this time of year and they're always a pleasure to ride on.

re_vised December 9 2013, 17:56:12 UTC

What a good mare! I love her dapples. <3 She seems tall, is she?

glenatron December 9 2013, 19:44:11 UTC

She's a good 16.2hh. I think over the next couple of years she will go through that rocking-horse phase.

re_vised December 9 2013, 19:56:02 UTC

Oh wow! She's a big girl!

glenatron December 9 2013, 21:22:38 UTC

She is, I'm fairly tall, so I need a horse of a decent size or I look like I'm sat on a shetland pony :)

puddleshark December 10 2013, 06:48:15 UTC

Lovely photos. Nice to see Iris walking out so well and so relaxed! That's no small achievement in a young horse.

Shame about the tantrum, as you say... but, young horse brain, it hurts sometimes.

glenatron December 10 2013, 08:57:32 UTC

It does. Especially when young horse is a mare and she has learned enough to be very clear that you're doing it wrong. We went for a very long ride yesterday where we took an exceptionally twisty route that went through all the main places where a we would normally turn for home, and turned away from home then waited until mares were able to accept this plan before carrying on. Hopefully this will help her change her thinking. It's certainly worn me out.

puddleshark December 10 2013, 10:57:42 UTC

I don't know whether you ever have recourse to bribery?

My brother's in the process of helping my sister-in-law clicker train a mare who Does Not Like The Farrier - he says spearmint polos have special properties when it comes to establishing new neural pathways...

glenatron December 10 2013, 15:58:10 UTC

It's not an area I favour- its fine for trick training ( I'd say picking up feet is pretty much a trick and there are a few other atomic tasks that it works great for ) but I find clicker work to be a little bit of a dead end for most ridden work. In this case I'm quite happy that Iris will get the idea soon enough, she has just got confused between a hack being "go along a certain well-established route" and it being "go along the route you are directed on." That sounds a bit right-wing, but it's an important distinction- if we have to turn back one day because the trail is blocked we can't be having bucking fits and tantrums ( ... )