# Beginner trail riders - tonight's adventure



## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Forgot to add that after the ride, as I was mucking out the pasture, I decided to get all horse whispery with Kodak and approached her for scratches. First she moved away from me, but eventually, she let me scratch her. As I was standing by her shoulder, Harley suddenly jumped about 50 feet away, so Kodak proceeded to spook in place by placing her hoof squarely on my foot. Right on the metatarsals. It's swelling up by the hour (yes, I put ice on it). Sigh.... it's all good though right? Incremental progress right?


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I can just imagine the stress level on you. not only are you dealing with your own problems, but the far more important concern of , "have I put my daughter in over her head? is she in danger?" 

I am so glad that it all worked out.,

I went out last night with a group of barn rats on their horses, but I was on a horse I'd never ridden before., 
this guy looks like a dead head, but he 'woke up' on the trail, man! what an engine this horse had! I could not slow him down if the others trotted ahead of me. he would charge off at a canter, with my back troubles, I cannot deal with much canter. (majorly sucks). anyway. . . . . 

good on you, Mama!


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Glad everything turned out okay, and don't forget, kids are tough and bounce well!
mY youngest son can tell some stories of how I almost killed him on ahorse,one trip!
He was only five, and usually I had him on a lead line,We were packed way in, and had ridden along distance from our base camp
As e turned towards camp, a storm was moving in over the mountains, and I did not have Jeremy on the lead line, as he was riding my well broke mare, Shyanne, and not crossing any rivers, where I always put a lead line on his horse
Anyway, we started to long trot, as I re called leaving the sleeping bags out to air. Shyanne got in the lead, and just as my husband said,'should shyanne be in the lead, shyanne took off at a dead run, with my five year old disappearing down the trail, yelling, 'whoa.
It is a parent's nightmare, esp since I knew the first river crossing was just up ahead
I yelled at my husband to stop, and not chase her, hoping Shyanne would act like a horse, and come back, once she knew we were not following. She did just that- got tot he river and spun back. By this time, my poor five year old was riding off to the side,a s the saddle had slipped, and I barely caught him in time, as Shyanne galloped up to us.
By then, Jeremy did not ant to ride, but we were a long ways from camp, with several river crossings to go. I thus told him I would put Shyanne on the lead line, and then off we rode.
On the way in, we had crossed a big sink hole, where it was much deeper on one side, and with the bank also much steeper, but I could not re call which route was better. Of course, I picked the wrong one, and as my horse barely scrambled up that bank, I tried to throw the lead line back to hubby, so Shyanne would not follow me
Futile effort. She fell scrambling up the bank, with my son flopping to one side, then with her trying to get back up, falling again and Jeremy flopping to her other side. Somehow she finally got up that bank, my son still on her.
Oh yes, we got back to our tent, just as it really started to pour!
it.s all good that ends well> People who hear this story, state that they are not surprised that Jeremy 
does not ride any longer!
Quite sure that is not the true reason, as it was always my oldest son that rode with me,showed with me, started colts with me, had more wreaks and still rides today
All in all though, many happy family memories, when the four of us rode together, enjoying wilderness!
If your daughter could get her horse;s face, she would have much better control
Same horse that she is working on flying changes with?


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Great story @Smilie!

And yes @tinyliny - it's a little stressful for me, which is why we haven't ventured out very far yet. We'd like to do a group ride at the end of summer, but it will all depend on how things go between now and then. 

I'm more worried about psychological scars than physical ones at this point. I don't want my daughter to have a frightening experience. But the fact that she had fun, and wants to do it again makes me think she's ready for it. 

By "having his head" @Smilie, I assume you mean Harley should give into the bit and lower his head more? And yes, this is the same horse she's working on flying lead changes with. Although for now, we've abandoned the flying lead changes and are just focusing on getting the right lead so she can compete in a couple of weeks. So far so good - he's getting them on both sides and is able to have a controlled canter. He does much, much better in a ring, framing up nicely. But out in the open, he's a wreck! Luckily, Kodak has a head on her shoulders most of the time. 

Harley gets jiggy, starts to accelerate. His breathing gets huffy, you can see that he is getting really worked up. If you do circles, he gets even more upset. Will try to go sideways and put you in the bushes. Luckily my daughter will have none of that and will not hesitate to give him a swift kick in the ribs. Sometimes just stopping him works well. Worse comes to worse, I tell her to dismount and lead him, because that calms him right down. I need to bring my mounting stool next time. I have a little folding stool I put behind my saddle for trail riding because I'm short and while I can mount from the ground, it's nice to have the extra help. I put a rope on it and pull it up after me. Kodak is surprisingly tolerant of the whole thing. Basically, I am expecting her to be the babysitter horse now, and she seems to be ok with that, fortunately for me. 

Harley just needs to learn that going outside his comfort zone is no reason to freak out. We are just going to re-do this ride a few times, then start widening our loop gradually until he is under control. As long as my daughter is willing.


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

Just thinking out loud, if he's fine being led on foot, maybe have a few outings like that? My old instructor used to do that for new arrivals which were insecure, hand-graze them out on trails for a few weeks. It worked great. (I'm sure more experienced people will come up with a better plan)


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

I'm glad you got out for a ride with your daughter and altho' I well know how stressful a ride like this can be it's great that you managed it well. A few more like this can help and a few wet saddle pads is a good thing too. Now don't be going out and throwing a pail of water on the saddle pads.
One thing you could do to help Kodak with the rein episode is to do some work with her at home with ropes etc around her legs so it doesn't bother her and she will stand better for you. I know you were just moving one thing but sometimes if I am going to do some clearing and leading my horse I take a lead rope, leave the reins over her neck and use the lead rope so that way she shouldn't get tangled up in the reins.

More exposure to these situations will help. I will also try something like going out for a trail ride the day after the horses have had a good workout so they are not so fresh, maybe after a show for Harley where he has worked hard and may not be as jiggy and bouncey.

This spring I started riding again after my knee injury and my mare seemed to know that my confidence level was not as good as it should be, knee was still pretty sore and I sure didn't want to make it worse and she behaved badly for me a couple of times and I then took her out for a long tough ride and after a couple of those she returned to her usual self.

I'm glad your daughter enjoyed her ride and I thing you will be able to look forward to more good trail rides together.


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Your daughter is well on the way to becoming a better horsewoman in the future, and her positive attitude just supports that.
My son, (oldest ), when he was 13, began to help me start colts. I in turn would give him one colt for his won, and that is the horse he had to show
He had to show against youth,who had professional trained horses, and you know what, it made him a way better horseman in the future
Even now, having a full time career with Alberta Agriculture,he stiil starts is own young hroses, and as a favor, started some of mine, left over from when I could no longer get on young horses after knee replacements
He no longer starts outside horses, as he does not have the time, but has a waiting list, should he ever do so,left over from when he started colts, to make money for university
Those other former youths on push button horses no longer ride, could not get ona green horse to save their soul.
Yes, what I meant, was not to ask the hrose to trail ride in any frame, but to be able to get that head and face,w hen the horse gets high, able to use some body control exercises and not just run circles
I am all for putting more basics on ahorse at home, but not much for leading hroses out on trails. The horse was also not out by himself, and perhaps he needs some of that solo trail riding by someone more experienced
Keep safe, and have fun!


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## Change (Jul 19, 2014)

I'm soon to have a similar experience as my granddaughter now lives with me and wants to ride. She's ridden some, but I won't call her experienced yet, and Cally can sometimes be a handful. Of course, I know she'll be better behaved when riding out with my young gelding, but still... I don't have a round pen or arena to assess my granddaughter's skill, so first ride might start in the horses' field, but that really won't tell me much. We'll venture out to the cotton fields the horses are familiar with (I ride each of them solo as often as I can) and try to maintain a walk/jog pace for the first ride. No streams to worry about and we go around the mud puddles (usually very large and boggy). To say I'm nervous is an understatement. LOL. Cally is well broke but a bit headstrong. I'm really hoping she and Ev click and work well together. It'll be SO nice to have a riding buddy and get more miles on both horses!

Growing up, none of my sons really showed much interest in riding, although my youngest really bonded with a filly born when he was 2 1/2 y/o. One day my middle son comes flying into the house shouting that K is riding Sandy. Now, I'd put Sandy (the then yearling filly) in the round pen to get some exercise (70' round pen). K climbed the fence and slid onto the filly's back. I run out to find my 4 year old son happily riding an unbroken filly with no halter around the pen at a slow trot. That little horse was being so careful not to dislodge my son and K was giggling like crazy. 27 years later and he's still mad at me for selling Sandy. ;-)


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

@Acadianartist your daughter is about the same age my daughter was when I started taking her away from home on rides. It has always amazed me how situations I may have found stressful she found exciting. I think the biggest difference is being a Mom - we tend to worry about everything - the horses our kids and the kids worry about nothing.

That being said - my daughter is 17 now and has ridden in some fairly advanced trails. she can handle her horse when she spooks or gets "hot" (jiggy) so keep doing what you are doing and try to enjoy the ride and appreciate that Kodak can be the babysitter in these situations.

the kids love the adventure and the thrill of handling their own horse in those situations.


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

youngest son, on apack trip, when he was about 13



Both boys as teenagers, when we ran into that cow elk, with acalf in the trees, and with our dog along



Family ride, when the boys were quite young



Me and the kids, just before we rode up Powderface, some place I don't even want to ride now, as the trail is very,very steep. I sometimes wonder how I took my young sons there!



Again, kids when they were little


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

Acadianartist said:


> so Kodak proceeded to spook in place by placing her hoof squarely on my foot. Right on the metatarsals. It's swelling up by the hour (yes, I put ice on it). Sigh.... it's all good though right? Incremental progress right?


That happened about twice to me and now I wear steel toed boots to the barn......


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

gunslinger said:


> That happened about twice to me and now I wear steel toed boots to the barn......


I think the nerve that runs from the top of the foot to the big toe got it the worst because it still hurts when I put shoes on. But overall, not so bad. 

The worst time was when I was a kid and my horse stepped on me in the barn (so no give) with his winter shoes that had the corks on them. I remember my foot turned green. Luckily, this time it was from a barefoot horse on grass. But yeah, steel toes are a good idea. I was still wearing my tall riding boots.


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## Jan1975 (Sep 7, 2015)

Acadianartist said:


> I think the nerve that runs from the top of the foot to the big toe got it the worst because it still hurts when I put shoes on. But overall, not so bad.
> 
> The worst time was when I was a kid and my horse stepped on me in the barn (so no give) with his winter shoes that had the corks on them. I remember my foot turned green. Luckily, this time it was from a barefoot horse on grass. But yeah, steel toes are a good idea. I was still wearing my tall riding boots.


Ouch!! Both times!! I've been stepped on a couple times by our horse (shoes on) and once it hurt horribly and once it wasn't bad at all. It just depends on what exactly they step on I guess. The time it hurt the worst he really only stepped on my big toe...the 2nd time he stepped on my whole foot, on concrete. I don't think steel toes wouldn've helped! As a kid, I got stepped on a lot barefoot because I did not wear shoes. Yes, I was that dumb around horses. Lucky I survived!!


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