Stream crossings
Went on an interesting hack with my trainer on Matti and Megan on Pooh. We headed down to Pig Lane, where the neighbor's horse went through the old wooden snowmobile bridge a few weeks ago. We traversed the stream to the left of the bridge, after some encouraging our horses down the slight bank into the shallow running water.
I don't recall if I've ever taken Clover into a running stream, just large puddles and water jumps. Everyone else got off of their horses and led them over, but I wanted to be stubborn and stay on to ride my horse over. Clover was very reluctant to step in, the others were waiting on the other side, and the bugs were starting to bite, so I hopped off and tried to lead Clover over. No dice. Her reluctance evolved into I don't wanna, so Meg handed Pooh to our trainer and came back across the stream to help me get Clover motivated, mainly by tapping her butt with my stick.
We rode on and came to the second bridge and stream. Again we crossed to the left of the bridge, and managed to ride our horses over this time. Clover stepped in with her usual stomping—I guess she's testing the footing under the water! By this time, Pooh started acting up again, so Megan and our trainer switched horses. Matti was a great trail horse, I was surprised. We got to a third bridge and crossing, much to our trainer's suprise, she never knew about it because she had never attempted to cross the second stream before.
We crossed the third stream with no problem and rode to the other side of Pig Lane, with some trotting thrown in. We turned around at the orchard, and then took a left down an unexplored trail for a ways, that is, until it disappeared and we were forced back to Pig Lane.
Heading back, the stream crossings presented no problem as the horses knew what to expect and were eager to get back for evening feed. Going back down into the third stream was like doing a drop fence, we didn't exactly leap into it, but I had to sit back and let the reins slip so Clover could navigate her way into the stream.
We walked the rest of the way home. I enjoyed having more of a challenging ride—anything is good for exposure and mileage for a young horse.
I don't recall if I've ever taken Clover into a running stream, just large puddles and water jumps. Everyone else got off of their horses and led them over, but I wanted to be stubborn and stay on to ride my horse over. Clover was very reluctant to step in, the others were waiting on the other side, and the bugs were starting to bite, so I hopped off and tried to lead Clover over. No dice. Her reluctance evolved into I don't wanna, so Meg handed Pooh to our trainer and came back across the stream to help me get Clover motivated, mainly by tapping her butt with my stick.
We rode on and came to the second bridge and stream. Again we crossed to the left of the bridge, and managed to ride our horses over this time. Clover stepped in with her usual stomping—I guess she's testing the footing under the water! By this time, Pooh started acting up again, so Megan and our trainer switched horses. Matti was a great trail horse, I was surprised. We got to a third bridge and crossing, much to our trainer's suprise, she never knew about it because she had never attempted to cross the second stream before.
We crossed the third stream with no problem and rode to the other side of Pig Lane, with some trotting thrown in. We turned around at the orchard, and then took a left down an unexplored trail for a ways, that is, until it disappeared and we were forced back to Pig Lane.
Heading back, the stream crossings presented no problem as the horses knew what to expect and were eager to get back for evening feed. Going back down into the third stream was like doing a drop fence, we didn't exactly leap into it, but I had to sit back and let the reins slip so Clover could navigate her way into the stream.
We walked the rest of the way home. I enjoyed having more of a challenging ride—anything is good for exposure and mileage for a young horse.
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