Ride 12-4-2010

I'm calling this a ride, rather than a conditioning ride, because we just zipped around the block. I didn't even bother taking Hoss's heart rate or collecting any of the usual data. I was doing this more for the benefit of the dogs than the horse!

Of course, there is no such thing as a "junk" mile. Every time I ride, something is accomplished, either to the positive or the negative. Riding "at home" has been something of an issue for Hoss. We have ridden quite a lot around home, and much of that was done while he was young and silly. So every time we ride here, it's like we've reset to young and silly. Additionally, there's a long hill that we always run up. The result is that he wants to take off and not listen to me very well. The downhill on the way home is another problem. Hoss wants to run home! This is the result of having once – once!—run home in response to the panicked barking of my littlest dog which was home all alone. The last time I'd heard the dog bark like that, he was under attack by coyotes. Running home, under those circumstances, is quite understandable.

So, aside from exercising my nutso dogs, I decided this would be a bit of a "lesson" ride. It's past time to start addressing these issues seriously. I need Hoss to be responsive and obedient no matter the circumstances.

The loop we take is about three miles. We set out at a nice pace. It's not until we get to the road with the running hill that Hoss really starts to get silly. So when we made the turn on to that road, I knew it would be time to start expecting him to actually respond and be obedient.

Now, I am a helmet nazi. I wear a helmet every time I get on a horse. I do have one problem. I tend to forget my helmet when I'm riding close to home. Whether it's because the majority of the time that I'm handling horses at home I'm not riding, or because I'm so sure I'll remember if I step away at the time I'd usually get my helmet, it's a bad thing. None of my horses are on their best behavior when we're riding at home. The point of all this: I got about a mile and half into my three mile ride, and realized my helmet was still in my trailer.

After getting over feeling stupid over forgetting my helmet, I knuckled down to finish my ride as safely as possible. Knowing I was without head protection probably made me more careful than usual.

By this point we were on the part of the road where Hoss starts to get excited about running up the hill. I asked him for a nice, even trot. Hoss was not real interested in the whole nice, even trot idea. I used a few one-rein stops in order to keep his brain with me. He was still going with his head very high, but that I will address once I've got the rest of the problems handled.

Once he was with me, at least enough to listen, I made him give me several strides of what I wanted, then asked him for a canter. Of course, he wanted to hand gallop! Since it's a hill, I have a better time of keeping Hoss checked. Still, I think he got in a good twenty strides of hand gallop before settling in to a proper canter. One of our issues on this hill is he wants to slow down much sooner than I want him to slow down. So I wanted to get him into a canter he could sustain as soon as possible. Once we achieved that canter, I was able to keep him moving until I decided it was time to slow down. One problem addressed!

Once past the hill, Hoss knows we're on our way home. I wanted to pick up my newspapers, though. So, rather than turn down the road toward home, I wanted to keep going to the next road where my papers are delivered. Hoss didn't want to go straight, he wanted to go home! We had a little discussion about that. It didn't take much to get him to do what I wanted.

When we reached the newspaper boxes, I started maneuvering him so I could pick up mine. Hoss is a stubborn fellow. I'd done something he didn't like, to wit, forcing him off the "expected" path. He knows how to side pass and he knows how to pull up next to something. We've done this many times. But today he was not going to do what I wanted if he could help it! I directed him up to the boxes, and he immediately decided they were scary. I didn't fall for it. Hoss isn't afraid of much, and it was clear he was bluffing. I backed him as a correction, turned him about and tried again. This time he was nearly there, and turned his hind end out. Yet again the backing as a correction, turn and come back. This routine was repeated three or four times before Hoss decided I wasn't going to give up and aligned himself next to the box. I reached in and pulled out my papers without incident.

After successfully recovering the newspapers, I tucked them under my arm and we turned around to head home. This was the next issue to begin aggressively addressing. I'm a little over the whole jigging down the hill toward home thing. So, when Hoss slipped out of a normal walk and started either nazi trotting or doing this strange gait he does that feels something like he's trying to trot without trotting, I stopped him and backed him. I was somewhat hindered by the three newspapers I had tucked under my arm, but managed to lodge them between the pommel of my saddle and myself, only needing to support them a little to prevent their loss. At one point, Hoss decided he would back into the ditch along the road in an effort to force me to stop backing him. It didn't work. I just made him back out of the ditch! After about three of these corrections, Hoss walked reasonably home.

All in all a good ride. I was happy with the issues we addressed, and the three dogs – now nicknamed "Team Fluffy" – got their much-needed exercise.