I rode Donut's mom!!!

I've spent the last 14 years riding Nimo.  During that time, I only rode one other horse a few times, and she was a horse I was quite familiar with because I'd ridden her regularly for a couple of years while Nimo was growing up.  But over time, I really started to believe that my riding skills had become quite specialized to Nimo and that riding another horse would feel weird and that I would have to spend many years learning how to ride all over again.  (Somehow I also simultaneously believed that because Nimo was such a challenge to ride, riding just about any other horse would be easy.  It wasn't that I thought I would be able to get on any horse and get the horse to perform miracles, but I figured I could walk, trot, canter, and go in a circle without too much trouble.)  

Because of the effort I'd had to go through to ride Nimo, I have always been in awe of the riders I know or read about that catch ride endurance horses.  I mean, it is one thing to get on a horse you have never met before or only ridden a couple of times and do an arena workout for 30-45 minutes, but to go out on trails that are potentially challenging or even dangerous on a horse that you haven't had a chance to build a relationship with sort of seemed suicidal to me.  And yet, I saw it happening all the time, typically with positive experiences for the rider and the horse.  Baffling.

So that is what made my ride yesterday so interesting to me.  For the first time in over seven months, I climbed on top of a horse and rode.  Since Nimo died, I've had a few offers from friends to let me ride their horses.  I could also easily have ridden one of the school horses at my barn.  I think any of them would have been fine for my skill level.  But I never had any desire to ride.  In fact, I sort of dreaded thinking about it or having to respond to the offers.

Then one day I got a message from a friend.  (Yes, that is starting to become a refrain in my life for significant events - ha, ha!)  She said her significant other wasn't going to be able to ride for a few weeks and would I be interested in riding with her on the horse he normally used to help keep the horse in shape.  The horse in question was none other than Donut's mom.  And for that reason, my instant reaction was excitement and my answer was a definitive yes.

So yesterday, I dug my winter riding clothes out of hiding and frantically tried to remember how to even dress myself for a winter ride.  Then I met my friend at her house and I was introduced to Layla, Donut's mom, for the first time.  She was a sweet mare, who was already waiting in the barn for someone to catch her.  I gave her a couple of treats and had no trouble putting her halter on or leading her to the trailer.  She was easy to load, and it took just a few minutes before we were on the road to a nearby park.

When we got there, the horses unloaded easily and I had no trouble tying Layla to the trailer, taking her blanket off, and brushing the mud off of her.  I noticed a couple of things while I was grooming her.  First, she would frequently nose or lip my hand for treats.  She wasn't obnoxious about it; it was more like she felt compelled to check every so often, just in case a treat had magically appeared there and I hadn't noticed.  The way she interacted with my hand felt exactly like how Donut does it.  I suppose there are limited ways that horses can check hands for treats, but something about the way she did it felt very familiar and comfortable.  The other thing I noticed was that she was a little uncomfortable picking up her hind feet.  The way she told me she was uncomfortable was the same way Donut does.  Again, there are only so many movements a horse can make with their legs, but it felt familiar.

Sweet Layla

Saddling and bridling was also done without incident, and it wasn't too long before we were headed down the trail.  As we started walking, my friend reminded me that Layla was still pretty green.  She'd been under saddle for less than a year, and the person riding her was a beginner too.  Apparently she didn't steer very well.  That didn't bother me.  I figured she would be a pretty basic ride and I wasn't expecting anything other than forward motion down the trail and rudimentary stopping and turning skills.

I didn't realize exactly how green Layla was until we'd been riding for awhile.  Her lack of knowledge was disguised well because she was so quiet and willing to follow the two other horses we were with.  At one point, though, she seemed to want to take the lead.  That seemed fine to me.  After all, practicing being in different positions is an important part of the trail riding training process.  As we got in front, I felt her start to accelerate and then she started cantering.  It was a nice canter, and I didn't feel worried about her running away (and I also didn't understand that she lacked some basic skills...).  We went on ahead for maybe 200 feet and then she slowed herself to a walk and the other riders caught up.  

My friend said that if I wanted to do some trotting, we could and that the practice might be good for Layla, who tended to prefer canter as her faster gait.  I thought that was a great idea, so I asked Layla to trot.  Nothing.  I gently squeezed with my legs again.  No response.  I tried a couple of different ways to ask her to trot and it became clear to me that she didn't know any standard cue that I was aware of.  So I asked my friend how her significant other asked Layla to trot.  She said she really didn't know and that maybe I could try tapping her hindquarters with my hand.  I tried that.  Nothing.  I clucked and kissed.  Nope.  Huh.

Then, one of the other horses went out in front and trotted, and Layla obligingly sped up.  It didn't take long for me to assess the situation.  Layla didn't actually know any cues for starting, stopping, or turning.  She wasn't just green.  She was completely uneducated.  She had been going down the trail with the other horses because she wanted to stay with them.  Plus, she felt unbalanced in the trot, so she tried to avoid using it and cantered instead.  And I'm sure her rider preferred it to because her canter was a dream to ride.

Right at about the point I was figuring all that out, my friend casually mentioned that sometimes she bucked when her significant other was riding.  They weren't sure why.  (I had a pretty good idea why, but I decided to reserve judgment unless or until it happened.)  So there I was, riding in a 4,000 acre wilderness with a completely uneducated horse that sometimes bucked, and I was having the time of my life.

Because despite that fact that Layla didn't know anything, she never spooked or got fussy or antsy.  I mostly stayed out of her way and let her choose her pace.  If we were cantering, I would try to encourage her to try trotting for as long as she could.  Then, I looked for opportunities to help her understand one basic cue - that squeezing both of my legs meant she should go forward.  We would stop periodically for one reason or another and each time, I would gently gently squeeze my legs and release them when she started moving again.

 

One of the reasons we stopped was a mystery to me at first.  Layla was behind the other two horses and she just stopped and didn't feel any compulsion to follow the other horses, who continued down the trail.  She wasn't moving or tugging on the reins.  She was just standing still, politely waiting for me to realize what the situation was.  I looked around for something that might be attracting her attention or worrying her, but I didn't see anything.  I looked at the ground, and the footing looked good.  I called out to my friend, who stopped and turned around.  And then she started laughing.  She said, "This is the pear tree."  I looked at her like she was a crazy person.  It is December and there are no pears anywhere.  And pear trees grew in the wild?  She pointed to the ground.  Sure enough, there were wild pears all over the ground.  Layla had remembered from a previous ride and she wanted to stop for a snack.  (I will note that both the other horses with us knew about the pear tree too, and they hadn't stopped.  I was discovering that Layla had an eye or a nose for food.  Just like Donut...)

After Layla had eaten a couple of pears, she was perfectly happy to continue down the trail again.  We crossed a creek without any issues at all, and then the horses started cantering up a steep hill.  Three things happened in short order.  First, I realized my jacket was caught on the horn of the saddle I was riding in.  I had leaned a bit forward to go up the hill and my jacket was unzipped just right to catch the horn.  So while Layla was cantering up the hill, I was trying to get the jacket off the horn.  Then, Layla started cantering a little faster, maybe out of excitement, and she got herself out of balance and panicked.  So she started bucking.  There we were running up this hill, with Layla bucking and me hung up on the saddle horn.  Any two of those things would have been fine, but all three was one too many.  I lost my balance and ended up hanging off the side of the horse.  I managed to keep it together and got one hand on her headstall and actually brought her to a complete halt.  And for just a second I thought I was going to be able to stay on.  Then, Layla took a step or shifted her weight (probably because there was a person hanging off of the side of her), and I knew I wasn't going to stay on.  So I pushed myself away from her and rolled on the ground.  I think she was startled and took a couple of steps, but otherwise she stayed with me.  I got up, dusted myself off, and congratulated myself on what was a pretty good fall.  I wasn't hurt at all.  I didn't hit my head, and I had landed in a deep pile of leaves.

Layla seemed OK, although maybe a little rattled.  My friend told me that the bucking was actually pretty impressive, as was my riding (presumably up to the point where I fell off...).  The bucking hadn't actually felt like a big deal; I've definitely ridden worse, but being caught on the horn meant I couldn't get myself counterbalanced against the bucking.  So lesson learned.  Wear a different jacket when riding this particular horse!

I opted to walk Layla for a bit to let her settle before I got back on.  Also, there were no handy fallen trees or stumps nearby and while I could have gotten on from the ground (Layla is only 14.3), I didn't want to put that strain on her back if I didn't have to.

So we walked and we walked and we walked.  Apparently we had entered the Land of Shrubbery.  There wasn't a dead tree to be found.  Eventually we got back into the woods and I spied what looked like a good possibility.  It would require us to walk into the woods a bit, but the path seemed reasonably clear.  I asked my friend how she thought Layla would handle that, and she really didn't know.  I decided to find out.  Layla walked into the woods with me quite willingly, even though we did get smacked by a few branches and sticker brush.  We made it to the fallen tree and I couldn't quite get her to understand how to stand next to it so I could get on.  I ended up climbing on it (it was at an angle, caught on another tree on its way down) and then asked her to move forward.  That worked and soon she was perfectly positioned and I got back on.

I ran into a bit of a wrinkle then because I hadn't planned a good exit strategy.  Layla would need to back a few steps and turn around to get out.  Of course, she didn't know how to do either of those things based on cues from me.  I asked anyway, like she did know, and through some trial and error, I was able to get her to back up and turn.  Then we made our way out of the woods and down the trail.  I was pretty darn impressed with her at that point.  What I had done with her was second nature to me from riding Nimo out on the trails, and the situation would have caused him no concern.  I have used anything from rotting fences to tree stumps to logs to teeter-totter boulders to ditches to pick-up truck tailgates to get on, so I am really accustomed to using whatever is available.  But I guess most people are able to get on their horses from the ground, so they don't have to resort to such creative methods to get back on in the wilderness.  So not all horses are used to such shenanigans from their riders!  However, I can report that Layla is perfectly fine, which could be useful in the future.

Our next obstacle was a corn field.  We were riding in a wildlife management area and I guess part of that management is planting giant fields of corn and leaving the cobs on the stalk for deer and other animals to eat through the winter.  Well, guess who knows food when she sees it?  At first I was clueless when Layla kept trying to walk off the trail into the corn field.  And then I realized she must be seeing or smelling the corn.  I didn't let her eat any, mostly because I figured it wasn't a good idea to let her just eat her way down the trail and she'd already had the pears plus an assortment of twigs, leaves, and berries that she had been periodically snacking on throughout the ride (can we say endurance horse, anyone?).

After the corn field, my friend asked if I wanted to do some trotting again.  The other rider with us pointed out that after the bucking, I might not want to do anything other than walk.  But I felt like as long as I could keep Layla from cantering too fast, she would probably not buck again.  I was certain the bucking had been because she felt unbalanced at the faster speed.  It felt exactly like when the same thing had happened with Nimo.  He would get really worried cantering up hills and start bucking.  While I wouldn't be able to work with Layla like I had with Nimo (i.e. spending years working on it), I felt pretty comfortable that I had a system to control her speed enough.

So we worked on trotting off and on for maybe the next 20 minutes.  Layla tried to do a little more trotting and we got in some absolutely amazing canter.  The bucking actually seemed to re-calibrate her (and maybe me too) and there were a couple of times when her canter, which was already quite nice, felt like floating.  She connected to my seat and I even got a subtle bend in her thoracic area with gentle thigh pressure.  It was truly amazing.  The even more amazing thing is that I worked for probably 12 years to get that kind of connection with Nimo, and I got it in about an hour and 20 minutes with Layla.  I've only ridden one other horse with a canter like that, and it was an Arabian mare I had for 15 years, who died a little over a year before I got Nimo.  If Donut inherited that canter, I am going to be in heaven!  

I did notice that she only wanted to use her left lead and that she felt stiff to the right.  But that was an issue for another day.

One other issue I noticed was that she was in a curb bit, and that was just not the right bit for her, given her training.  My friend explained that she wanted to be sure her significant other would be able to stop her if she got too excited and it was a safety thing for a green rider.  While I can understand the importance of keeping a rider safe, I have come to believe that the best safety lies in teaching a horse clear aids, having a rider use those aids consistently, and spending a lot of time in the saddle practicing those aids.  A strong bit simply confuses the horse, destroys trust, and disguises problems (until they manifest themselves as balking and bucking and whatever other undesirable behavior a horse can think of).  I don't think you need to be an advanced rider to apply those principles.  You just need to be aware and consistent.

What we decided is that we would try a snaffle bit with her the next time I ride.  That way, I can work on teaching her how to turn.  I don't think you can teach turning with a curb bit.  It simply is not designed for that.  I watched a video that Mark Rashid has in his classroom on Facebook and it really broke down the basics of how different types of bits work (and why you should never, ever use a Tom Thumb bit).  I kind of knew those things before, but the video presented the information so well, I feel like I understand much better now.  And I am convinced that basic horse training can be done in either a side pull or a snaffle in much the same way.  So I'm going to give that a try with Layla the next time I ride and see how it works.

We wrapped up our ride after about two hours out on the trails.  Layla seemed a bit tired to me - we had actually done a fair amount of trot and canter work on hills - plus she had been dealing with a new rider who had a new way of communicating with her.  I'm sure that was exhausting.  But the best news was that my strategy of taking advantage of opportunities where I could use my legs to ask her to move forward when she was going to move forward anyway to follow the other horses was paying off.  By the end of the ride, I could tell she was starting to understand.  What a smart mare!

When I was telling another friend of mine about my ride, she was sort of horrified that I rode a horse with so little education out on the trail and possibly questioned my sanity.  And you may be too.  But all I can say is that riding Layla, with her lack of education, was still significantly easier, less intimidating, and less anxiety-inducing than riding Nimo.  Part of it was her height.  She is probably at least 9 inches shorter than Nimo was.  But there had to be something more.  I can't put my finger on it, to be honest.  I just felt safe on her.  And I am looking forward to a ride next weekend (assuming the weather holds, which it may not).  I feel excited about working with her, and I feel like I may have gotten a little bit of a view on what riding Donut may be like. 

The other thing I learned is that I do actually have riding skills as well as an ability to understand a horse other than Nimo under saddle.  I'm also starting to understand the draw of catch-riding in endurance.  It is very rewarding to get on a new horse and find a way to communicate.  And a long trail provides a wonderful opportunity to build a relationship.  I still believe arena work has a very necessary place in horse training, but there is a lot that can be accomplished out in the wilderness if both the horse and the rider are willing!