What makes a willing and trusting trail partner? I think it's a combination of breeding, how they're raised and handled, and then laying a solid foundation. That foundation is what you and your horse will fall back on when things go sideways (and they will!)
Over the years, I have also learned the hard way that slow is fast and fast almost always gets you into trouble. With young horses like this, giving them time to think, be a horse, grow mentally and physically, is so important.
O.G. is only four years old, has next to zero trail miles, and this was his first ride in at least three weeks.
This was on our way to Ice Lake. We had already ridden around the Saddle on an old mining/fire road to drop down into the Panther. We passed a couple hunting camps while winding through the valley. We felt like we were in the middle of nowhere until this trail dumped us on a very heavily used wagon trail. There were some pretty extravagant camps along the Panther River as well.
We cruised around Labrynth Mountain on my birthday and popped champagne at the falls before looping around to Eagle Lake and back to Bighorn. After parking our horses at camp, we went to JKL across from Eagle Creek for pie.
Last installment of Harriet's pack training. She carried a light load that made some noise on a 9 mile loop. Hit branches, downed trees. Led well. Hasn't had a top pack or manty yet but I don't suspect that will be much of an issue. She has handled everything really well. 👌
Day two of pack training Harriet. This time Steeve tied the box hitch on her. We've tried using diamond hitches in the past but found the box hitch just works better for us and our horses. Today she will be packing her boxes around Blackfoot. It doesn't always go this smooth...🤣
Harriet's first time with boxes on went pretty well. Because she was so accepting of the crupper, double cinches and boxes, we kept it pretty simple and short. Tomorrow will be another dress rehearsal before hauling her out for a dry run at Blackfoot. Less than two weeks till the real deal.
One more video of Steeve's dad and Rain. We took him to our favourite place to ride yesterday. We rode for four hours and 10 miles. It was so fun to see Andre enjoy the Badlands and mining relics. Rain was her usual dependable self. What a good mare.
Steeve's dad started riding a few years ago. He's in his 80's! Whenever he visits, he rides Rain. She's such a sweetheart.
Signal's first day outside the maternity ward.
I felt so rusty after two weeks off from the cold, luckily Bruce picked up the slack for me. He reminds me a lot of his sire Jack, one of my all time favourite horses ever. When I ride Bruce on the trail, I let him do his trail gait which is really smooth and fast; here I'm asking him to stay in a four beat gait so he can get his PFE done with the Canadian registry. Walking horses (and fox trotters) are capable of doing so many gaits. It's our job as riders to let them know which ones we want them to do.
Calling the horses in from pasture today.
Just a short clip from our ride yesterday. Steeve is filming from Kip's back. I'm on Bruce in the middle, and our friend is riding up front.
Our little weim Recce is always up for helping the young horses through her pool. The bay gelding is LL's Bruce (LL Chance's Red Rascal x Bellissima Donna Z). He is a four-year-old TWH.
Kinder is a 6-year-old MFT who belongs to a good client of ours. We started Kinder as a late 3-year-old for him and now Kinder is back to level up his skills. This is one of the things his owner wanted him to do, come to the mount, fence, rock, picnic table, whatever, for mounting. Kinder picked up the cue in no time at all! And isn't he the prettiest gelding ever?! ❤️😆
We had a great time at the Battle River CTR this weekend! Part of what makes this sport so fun is, you never know what's going to happen. Steeve borrowed my MFT gelding as his horse T was too sore. Magnus is not really designed well for CTR, he over heats and pulses really high. We were thrilled when he was pulsing at 15 and16 on Saturday. He started out strong this morning but Steeve made the call to pull him from competition halfway through. Bloom managed to place third on Saturday but the trail was hard on her front legs. Not sure how we did today, but we did manage to finish. Thank you to all the organizers, ride manager, vets and volunteers for another great ride.
This is Shortcake, she is a grade Tennessee Walking Horse mare. She came with us to the Willmore last year and will be going with us again at the end of July. Shortcake will be offered for sale to a good home in mid-August. She's 6 years old and is just under 15 hands.
Trinder's Wizard 295 with Emilee on board. He has some good moments going through the grass, he has a cute little head shake and nice round frame. He's shorter with a strong frame and stocky legs.
Calling the horses in...😆❤
When people ask me how I get a horse to gait, the easiest answer is one step at a time. Jack is a little further along then the fox trotter in my last post. He is able to hold his easy gait for almost a whole minute on a loose rein and he's starting to build up speed. This took me a month with only two sessions a week, about 20 minutes long each. He is coming back from an injury so I am in no rush bringing him back.
At this stage I am also not picking on Jack about which gait he is doing, as long as it is smooth (not a trot, not a pace). The finesse will come later on.
