Yesterday afternoon Mort and I headed out of the confines of the arena. I wanted a fun, relaxing ride that was mentally easy but still had some purpose physically. Luckily I board at a barn that has a really great system of trails. Mort and I spent a good hour exploring some of those. I love dressage and the challenges it brings, but there is something really freeing about riding a game horse in the woods.
Mort has gotten better and better about being a trail horse. Yesterday we explored new trails alone for the first time--places he and I had both never been. He spent about 95% of the time boldly marching forward while on the buckle. His ears were pricked the whole time and he listened to my voice and seat to help him navigate some of the steeper stuff. Overall I think we both had a really good time and I was really proud of him.
Now, you may be wondering about the 5% of the time when he wasn't being a perfect pony. Even if you aren't, I'm gonna tell you about it. Mort thinks that the water in the woods is made of acid. There is a small stream that we cross on our regular trail that he usually doesn't worry about too much. We walked by a couple puddles on the way into the woods that he went by with minimal issues--usually as long as I don't try to make him walk through the water he'll go around easily. On our way out of the woods (the same way we took in so we had passed these puddles already) he had a little melt-down. I'm not sure if they just surprised him as we turned the corner or if he didn't notice the path around them, but he shot backwards up the hill several steps before I got a handle on him. Then came the project of getting him around the puddles.
Once Mr. Mort gets into his spooked frame of mind it can take a minute to bring him back down to reality (reality being that the puddles aren't made of acid). The approach that works best with him (and most horses--I realize I didn't come up with this method) is to put on pressure, but as soon as he takes even a half step let it off. It breaks down what I want into two very simple options--forward gets release and backwards gets legs on. Now, since he's a Mort, sometimes his mind takes a few seconds to catch up. We had a few more backward runs up the hill and two rear-and-spin-away situations. Eventually, I got him pointed to the path around the puddle and he leaped over it. I let him know that forward was good, but I didn't want that to be the final answer. We walked back into the woods and he only rushed by it. Finally, our fourth time by it, he walked politely, albeit tensely.
This whole process probably only took about ten minutes. Instead of putting a damper on the otherwise successful and easy trail ride, I actually look at it with pride and affection. Obviously we ended with him walking by it so that's a 'win'. More importantly, this showed how we're learning to trust each other. When I first got him his spooks were dramatic, and I didn't trust him enough to work through the issues. I spent more than one attempted trail ride walking him from the ground. I'm willing to stay on him and he's willing to come back from the brink of terror (acid water and all that).
He's got a while to go before I stamp him beginner friendly, but he's a horse that I trust and that's not always a list that he's been on. It's not that he's ever been truly awful, but I don't trust horses until I've known them a while (if they prove trustworthy). I guess the moral of the story is that I'm glad our partnership is doing well. He often comes up to me when I go out to catch him. He always greets me with pricked ears when I say 'hello' in his stall. And now he is learning to trust me to get us through the scary stuff instead of choosing to cut and run. This got a little gushy--deal with it.
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