First Bitless Trail Ride!

Yes, on my own horse this time!

So shortly after I got her from her paddock, she was already a bit nervous. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I'm noticing it more and more - Reina hates stalls. Haaaaates them! I put her in one when I feed her, and to groom her and tack her up. Nothing bad has happened to her while she's in a stall since she's been with me; but she's very, very reluctant to be cooped up like that. I think she was stallbound at some point in her life (maybe that's how she started cribbing!), and maybe someone wasn't too kind to her while she was there, because oh man, it's like she's a different horse in a stall. Outside, she'll be grazing and calm within seconds. But inside, if there's a noise somewhere or anything like that, she gets all shaky and snorty and scared. I feel so bad! But I've been working with her, and she's getting better. She's never mean or dangerous; I'm always able to bring her back with backing and head lowering exercises, and I let her out and hand-trot her a bit sometimes when she gets too terribly nervous, and then let her go back in once her wiggles are out.

In any case, she's getting better, but we have some work to do! So, of course, there's some loud noises and this puts Reina on edge since she's trapped in a stall. She gets nervous and starts snorting and rolling her eyes, so I back her a little bit, but she's just not really paying attention. She does what is asked, but can barely take her treat she's so preoccupied. So I let her out and we trot for a few strides, and then I stop her and she's totally fine.

Back into the stall we go! I remind Nick that we had a trail riding date, but he forgot and has to pick up a truck and trailer of his. So Chia (I think that's how you spell it, I don't really know!) volunteers to be my trail buddy! Chia is Nick's business partner; he trains, and she's more of the business side of it. She loves horses, but she's probably what I'd classify as a beginning rider, and she's a bit timid. She's SUPER nice though, I really like her! She always chats with me, and she's the one that feeds Reina most of the time - she's been mixing up her food with lots of vitamins and making sure she has the right mixture so that she'll gain some weight.

So! Chia is going to ride Rose, a big (but not nearly as big as Reina) bay TB mare. She's thicker built than Rei, but shorter. And she's super quiet and easy.

So, I tack up, and I decide to walk Reina out to the gate, since she's still snorty and totally unsure if she wants to go where I'm trying to lead her. After some clicking and treating, she gains some confidence back, even though her head is still up in the clouds. We get to the gate without much else happening, but I'm sitting there thinking "oh God, maybe this is a bad idea, maybe we're not ready for this." I tell myself to shut up and keep walking! And I do. I try very hard to ensure that Reina doesn't know I'm doubting our abilities.

So we get out of the gate and Chia gives me a leg up onto my giant horse (I really will have to work on mounting from the ground; usually I use one of the fences or a chair, and Reina doesn't mind those, but when I climbed up onto the gate, it clanged, and she was already on edge, so she wouldn't sit still!).

What an adorable horse I have! :)

AND WE'RE OFF!

So we walk down the road, and Reina is not entirely convinced that I want her to go down that road. And once I do reassure her that yes, indeed, I want to go down this road, away from the barn, she starts to question my sanity. BUT, and here's the difference: she listens. Even bitless, she listened! I didn't have to jerk, yell, kick, get angry... I just insisted, and she relented. She's starting to understand me, and to trust me! It was so wonderful. On our first trail ride together, she wouldn't steer for beans. But this time, she was perfect! We had a few miscommunications (or maybe she was just making sure that I was ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN I wanted to go around that scary corner/tire/tree). But she listened, and understood, and it really did make all the difference!

Sorry for the blurriness of some of these; it is a cell phone,

after all, not a camera - and we were moving in half of them!

She was very nervous for the first few minutes, snorting and being difficult. Well, she was listening, but she was just scared. Everything was scary and going to eat her. She didn't take off, though, she just stopped a few times without me asking and snooooooorted! at stuff. Once she was done being silly and rolling her eyeballs at inanimate objects, we continued on our way without any problems. Rose was a great influence, as she has tons of trail experience and really wasn't bothered by anything.

Reina soon settled into her stride, though! She even passed the field with scary hogs snuffling around without freaking out. I was so proud of her already! And she was steering and going where I wanted!! Victory! Giant, huge, enormous steps of PROGRESS!

Isn't it beautiful!? I'm loving trail riding more and more these days!

So she soon started to settle into her stride, and decided that she, Reina, as Boss Mare, should lead. I tried to tell her that the more experienced trail horse should go first, but she would have none of it. Every time poor Rose tried to pass Reina would put her muzzle over the other mare like she was about to bite her for disobeying, and I had to pull her head away. Reina! Bad boss mare! It was so funny, though; she would stop to snort at something, and Rose would start passing her, and Reina would be annoyed at this and keep walking to keep the lead. Note to self: boss mare's boss instincts override her "OMG WHAT IS THAT!?" reflex! That's going to come in handy, lol!

Water crossing, oooh! Reina was more concerned about the fact 

that Rose passed her than she was about the water, haha.

We went back around to a pond to see some water, and Reina was so! excited! about this. If I would've let her, she probably would've waded right into the pond! Silly mare! She really settled down easily, though, and she was totally sane the entire time (even at the beginning when she was snooooorting at things). But man, she was totally into the trail riding thing towards the end, and she was lead horse most of the time. She gets into this swinging self-confident walk, almost like she's got a little swagger going on, and she's all alert and stretched out and workin' it! It's so funny! She's really, really fun to ride, and I'm just beginning to really learn how much I like her!

Pond! Isn't it pretty?

So on the way back, I let Reina trot a bit! She was being really quiet, so I decided we could go faster! I kept having to lean down because of low-hanging branches, so I decided it would be a good idea to practice my two-point anyways. So I did. And I could feel Rei asking me if she could go, so I answered yes and clucked a little bit. Bam! Trot! Just like that! She almost breaks into a canter, and would have if I let her, but I told her I didn't really want to canter on this trail and she listened, so we just trotted real big for a minute or two and then slowed up. I didn't warn Chia of what we were going to do, because I didn't know until I did it, so I didn't want to go too far in case Chia didn't want to go fast or needed to catch up or something!

Chia was nice enough to take some pictures of Rei and I, too, so here they are!

Told you she poses when the camera comes out!

Don't mind me looking terrible in this picture! Yikes!

More adorable poses! I don't know what she saw over

 there, but it was clearly really interesting!

Please note: BITLESS! I'm so proud of us!

So we complete the trail ride: no bolts, no craziness! She listened to where I wanted to go, stopped and backed when I would ask, never broke stride unless I let her, steered, and let herself trust me when it came to walking past super scary objects that may very well have eaten her. She was SO good, and I'm SO proud of her! She's come such a long way just since I got her - which, really, was less than a month ago! I'm ecstatic with our progress. A few more rides like this and I just know she'll be completely unflappable. She's so very smart!!

She was no longer snorty when we got home, paid no mind to the gate that made her nervous before, and walked, perfectly confident and at ease, back up to the stall she was in. I fed her and brushed her down and gave her some TLC with our HHC spray and then let her go back out with Comanche.

Oh, and as for handling... if I didn't know already, I never would have guessed I was riding her in a rope halter. Really. She was so responsive - more responsive than most horses in bits! - and she listened perfectly. Never once did I feel out of control or ignored. Of course, we need more work before she'll be comfortable on her own - but that's a miles issue, not a training issue. I really could not be more pleased with her!

Yay us!! We really are going to be partners in crime! >:D