Extreme Trail Practice Day at Shannon's

I hauled Smarty, Cayenne, and Blaze to my friend, Shannon's, to practice on her indoor extreme trail course. There were about 8 riders total so it wasn't too crowded but you definitely couldn't lope around in the arena.

I worked Cayenne first and she was pretty nervous just getting to the arena. There was the usual array of farm junk laying around as well as dogs standing on the top of a pickup. She's not fond of dogs, especially when they're the same height as she! I didn't pressure her much once we got into the arena. I just let her familiarize herself with it. It was a coverall so white fabric sides with a variety of "things" stacked along the edge. There were also cages and pens with ducks, peacocks and goats. Once I walked her around a bit, I took a turn on each of the obstacles. There was a flat bridge, a taller curved bridge, a blue tarp, sacks of cans to drag, a "carwash," and a variety of other obstacles. Many of the other horses were resistant to do the obstacles at first so it was interesting to see the methods used to convince them there were no monsters under the bridges, etc. After doing the obstacles several times each and just riding around, which took a couple hours, I traded Cayenne out for Smarty. He's never actually practiced on most of the obstacles he's seen on the extreme trail courses including a simple carwash. He's just a nice guy who likes to do whatever silly thing I ask! He quietly completed the course without a hitch and I took him back to the trailer.

We broke for a hot and delicious lunch of home-made chili and corn bread. Yum! It was nice to drink a cup of coffee and visit with some of the riders. There was a gentleman riding a beautiful bay arab mare. He tied her to the arena wall framework and she entertained us with her prissy attitude. She danced and pranced and nickered in abandonment, successfully knocking her bridle on the ground and trampling it twice. We watched as her owner, a lady, went to comfort her. The mare thought the bowl of chili in her owner's hand was for her and took a quick dip. The expression on her face was priceless!

Blaze had been saddled and IN the trailer for his own protection. He is currently determined that he must be where Cayenne is and will have a mini-tantrum if left without her. Although he must "deal" with it at home, I didn't want him pawing on the side of my aluminum trailer or injuring himself while alone outside. After saddling him when I got there, I put him in the trailer with the window open. Smarty was tied outside to "babysit" his unruly son! All went well.

After lunch, I led Blaze to the arena. I had brought him for the experience and figured he would be too excited to be safe to even get on. I hoped to be able to lead him in the arena and show him the obstacles, at least from a distance! He surprised me by being a very good boy. He was nervous, of course, but didn't overreact to the "normal" things like the plastic bag or the feed sack on a stick being worked over him. I moved on to another familiar, the blue tarp. He was nice and calm. He was very curious about all of the other horses in close quarters. He easily maneuvered over both bridges and looked at the ducks and the goats. The car wash was our nemesis the only other time I've taken him to an extreme trail course. This time, he was calm and I was able to take him through several times with the tarp strips tied back. After that confidence builder, I let down first one half and then the second half of the strips (and pool noodles) so he could go through them. I placed him in front of them and then just let him think. He had a concentrated look on his face as he slowly poked his head through and then slowly walked all the way through as if wishing he could fit his whole body within the 3" path he chose without having the strips touch him.

Although I hadn't planned on riding Blaze there, I went back to the trailer for my helmet, did a little more groundwork in the arena, and mounted up. I had all of the horses' teeth worked on by a horse dentist yesterday and although he said I could ride today, I just had Blaze in a rope halter. He's my sensitive horse and if anyone needed a break, it was him. I steered him around a bit and then asked him to do some various obstacles like the bridges. The arena was getting a bit packed by then with some horses skittering around in fear of the car wash so I chose to not try to take him through it while mounted. If we had had the area to ourselves, I would have, but I was having trouble enough maneuvering him between swinging butts! I didn't want him getting ran into or kicked by another horse. He remained relaxed although I do think his mouth was hurting some as he really didn't want to give his head. I took him back to the trailer and unsaddled after a short but positive ride. I was impressed with his accepting attitude. I thought it unlikely he would make a good extreme trail horse because of his "hot" side but he may do great!

I resaddled Cayenne once I put Blaze up and went for a group trail ride with everyone. It was mostly road riding with a jaunt back and forth across a creek and up a hill through some trees. Cay did ok but really wants to lead the pack. She relaxed when I let her up front and was later able to have a better time of it in the middle of the pack. As I have known prior, her main problem is her hyper attitude. She wants to go, go, go! Sometimes I need her to stop and wait for me to do something. She's very competitive natured and fun, but needs more practice reining in some of that type A personality!

I'm glad I went to Shannon's. It was a productive day and the sun even came out for our group ride :)