With the suddenly nice weather yesterday I decided to go on a longer hack that we haven't done since early autumn. The ground was a bit horrid in places where it's been churned up by off roaders, but it's rideable if you stay steady and look ahead and he's quite capable of coping with rough ground.
He was a bit stuttery to begin with where fields of horses are next to the track, he never likes passing when he can see others and even if he's going home he'll keep a wary eye on them - why I don't know, he's turned out in company and will ride in company but in his head that's different. It's not worth fighting over imo so we go verrrrry slowly with frequent stops to stare, but we get by in the end. Then it was a big ride on mower making a lot of odd noises the other side of an old hedge that he could see glimpses of, he was genuinely unhappy and broke into a sweat but eventually went by and in a controlled fashion. Then he finally settled and stepped out.
The byway is narrow in most places this time of year and we had nowhere to go when three off road bikers came towards us. Bless them, as soon as they saw us they stopped but there was nowhere for any of us to go. This was when I realised just how much I trust him now and how much braver and trusting he is too. They were wondering if there was room for them to get off and push their bikes with the engines off and still get past giving him a little bit of room if I got to the widest part of the track. I rode to within calling distance and said if I got back to the gate there was room to come by slowly, that he'd be fine - they weren't sure there was enough space to give him but like I said he's my horse and I know him. And he stood like a rock! Such considerate bikers though, they kept the revs as low as they could, put their visors up and chatted the whole way
. They also warned another group that caught up with us a bit later so they knew to be on the look out for a horse, again they were very polite and stayed a good distance back until we got to a place wide enough to pass.
We then carried on our ride with no further event apart from a short unasked for canter to burn off a bit of adrenaline on footing that was barely fit to walk on - at least he had the decency to keep it very steady because on that ground I wasn't distracting him by asking for walk. Oh and he was very miffed the llamas weren't in their field,his own species worry him but llamas that spook most horses are looked foe and called for!
It was a bit of an eye opener for me though. I knew he'd grown up a lot this year but I hadn't quite realised how much I now trust him and he trusts me. He wouldn't have handled that as well last year, he'd probably have danced on the spot and broken into a fret sweat which while it would have allowed the first group past would have left me with an anxious Luka who then would have been very tense about the second group following us. Now it never crossed my mind he wouldn't cope and he believed me when I said it was ok. What a boy!
He was a bit stuttery to begin with where fields of horses are next to the track, he never likes passing when he can see others and even if he's going home he'll keep a wary eye on them - why I don't know, he's turned out in company and will ride in company but in his head that's different. It's not worth fighting over imo so we go verrrrry slowly with frequent stops to stare, but we get by in the end. Then it was a big ride on mower making a lot of odd noises the other side of an old hedge that he could see glimpses of, he was genuinely unhappy and broke into a sweat but eventually went by and in a controlled fashion. Then he finally settled and stepped out.
The byway is narrow in most places this time of year and we had nowhere to go when three off road bikers came towards us. Bless them, as soon as they saw us they stopped but there was nowhere for any of us to go. This was when I realised just how much I trust him now and how much braver and trusting he is too. They were wondering if there was room for them to get off and push their bikes with the engines off and still get past giving him a little bit of room if I got to the widest part of the track. I rode to within calling distance and said if I got back to the gate there was room to come by slowly, that he'd be fine - they weren't sure there was enough space to give him but like I said he's my horse and I know him. And he stood like a rock! Such considerate bikers though, they kept the revs as low as they could, put their visors up and chatted the whole way
. They also warned another group that caught up with us a bit later so they knew to be on the look out for a horse, again they were very polite and stayed a good distance back until we got to a place wide enough to pass.We then carried on our ride with no further event apart from a short unasked for canter to burn off a bit of adrenaline on footing that was barely fit to walk on - at least he had the decency to keep it very steady because on that ground I wasn't distracting him by asking for walk. Oh and he was very miffed the llamas weren't in their field,his own species worry him but llamas that spook most horses are looked foe and called for!
It was a bit of an eye opener for me though. I knew he'd grown up a lot this year but I hadn't quite realised how much I now trust him and he trusts me. He wouldn't have handled that as well last year, he'd probably have danced on the spot and broken into a fret sweat which while it would have allowed the first group past would have left me with an anxious Luka who then would have been very tense about the second group following us. Now it never crossed my mind he wouldn't cope and he believed me when I said it was ok. What a boy!
out of him now, and just keep things low key enough to begin with that it was easy for him not to get it wrong. Hardly a major project, he was never the nasty horse people had warned me about just a scared and sensitive one.