06.29.07
Two Riders, Three Horses Trail Riding
WOO HOO!!! as HorseGal would say… we spent most of a gorgeous Sunday trail riding with all THREE horses, down at Gelinas Farm in Pembroke NH, sponsored by New Hampshire Horse and Trail. About 30 riders showed up for the ride and lunch afterwards. For us, taking three horses was special because there were only two of us riding, and we ponied Glendale, our yearling going on two. Glen was taught how to pony next to his mom when he was 2 weeks old LINK [or search blog on ponying], and he got quite a bit of exposure to the world at an early age.
Last year, around his first birthday in August, his ponying became a challenge as he began to feel his studly oats. Before he was gelded last November, I didn’t pony him much, considering it too risky what with his belligerent attitude (he was pulling away from me.) Right after his gelding, I ponied him a couple of times while he was recovering and subdued, then winter set in.
So we were quite pleased that he remembered his foal training so well this year. I tested out his attitude twice before the trail ride and he did well, so he got to come along on the 10-mile trip over dirt and woods roads, paths, and streets. There was a lot of varied terrain, including rocky and river-rock stretches, rutted woods roads, and deep muddy spots with puddles; Glen finally gave up trying to keep his feet dry. Some trail was like a footpath, so narrow I had to let Glen follow directly behind his mom’s rump. Usually I kept him on my right and on about 3 feet of lead so I could steer him better, to keep him from trying to go on a different side of a sapling than I rode on.
Older shot from 2005, first teaching Glendale to be ponied. (Sorry I had my hands too full on this ride to take any pix– my bad!)
From the start I have used verbal cues to help Glendale anticipate speed changes, and because we want him to be a driving horse too. I can cluck to him or say trot and he will start trotting before his mom does, and he responds readily to walk, easy and whoa. He is very smart and a quick learner, he tunes me in and even seems to enjoy getting pats and scratches on the neck, and hearing me say Good Boy when he does something special. When he sees something strange, he looks hard at it; he will go right up to a mailbox or pot of flowers or bag of trash and sniff it.
We had only one incident, early in the ride– dad, behind me, was ponying Glendale next to his brother Gilford (age 4 and still a green horse) when some other riders came up suddenly from behind and startled Glen who spooked, causing Gilford to also spook. Dad was trying to bring Gilford under control and hang onto Glendale’s lead rope, and they managed to run on either side of me on momma Willy who I was holding in to keep her from spooking too. I ducked the lead line which pretty much got pulled out of Dad’s hand at that moment, keeping me from possibly being caught up in it or pulled out of the saddle. Glendale ran ahead a little ways then stopped when he realized no one was coming with him, so he came back to momma and I got hold of him.
Hopefully we can bring Glendale along on many more trail rides, and also pony him behind the cart, as we did Gilford when he was young and Abby was pulling the cart. I firmly believe this is a great and easy way to train a youngster and expand the range of his experience. I have actually witnessed one lady ponying a 2-yr. old around a hunter pace course, over jumps, side by side with his mother who was obviously a well-trained and manageable jumper. What I’m doing seems easy compared to that!!!
See next post for HOW-TOs– Ponying the Baby Horse or Green Horse
Search Blog on ponying for more pix and posts!
