Trail Challenge Preparation....

I have already done one trail challenge with Chance and I was supposed to have gone to a big indoor Trail Competition in Oregon with Tracey (Mustang Diaries). Tracey was to take her green mustang Oz and I was to take my green mustang Chance. But about a week prior to us leaving, Tracey had a horse back riding accident with Oz (she is okay) and we had to cancel our trip. But in the month and a half leading up to the competition, I had been riding Chance in the arena, on our property and out at the local trails a couple times. She was really coming along well, but I was quite nervous about the indoor trail challenge! For one, she has never been in an indoor arena and for another, she has never been to any event, especially nothing like the caliber of the Oregon Trail Challenge. To be honest, I was actually quite happy that we weren't going. I really think Chance needs more time under saddle before attempting something like that with her. So here is a recap of what Chance and I worked on before we cancelled the trail challenge.

One of Chance's biggest issues has been water. As with any young or green horse, they have to be taught that water is not to be feared. Even last summer when we took Chance out on our local trails, she would not walk through water. She jumped it. It was horrible. So I knew I was going to have to really work with Chance and water. The Oregon Trail Challenge would have water. So if I wanted to succeed at that obstacle, we would have to get her through water. (Remember my first Trail Challenge with Chance and it was pouring rain and almost every obstacle was under water, which made it difficult to get through the course?) I started by doing water obstacles in hand. I thought this wouldn't be as difficult as being in the saddle. Boy, was I ever wrong. Luckily we have access to a lot of water, about 9 months out of the year. We get big mud puddles so I don't have to make my own water obstacle. It took quite awhile, but we finally had success!! Chance could now easily navigate mud puddles in hand! I eventually did the same thing with her under saddle. That was not easy. But I did finally get her to go through mud puddles while riding!! Now the true test would be to get her out on an actual trail ride and see if we could apply it in the wilderness.

Why is this necessary?

One day my OH came home from work early and he asked if I wanted to ride Chance through our neighborhood a ways, while he walked our Aussie Bailey. I was a little nervous to try that, but I had been riding her all over our property and on my neighbors trails. She had been doing well, but she is quite spooky. So I agreed. We were only going to ride a very short distance to the stop sign at the end of our road (we live in a private development where there is very little traffic. Actually we get more concerned about dogs running out in the road at us then cars!)

Getting ready to head out in the neighborhood.

Chance started out quite nervous. She wasn't bothered by mailboxes, boulders or even stop signs. What she was bothered by was a bird fluttering in the bushes, a rabbit or anything that made a sudden appearance. When we got to the stop sign, Chance had settled down and we decided to continue a little further. We ended up riding to our private access river gate which is probably at least a mile from our house. We then turned around and went back home. She was quite good for her first ever neighborhood ride!

Chance meets her first stop sign.

My friend C, who did the first trail challenge with me, doesn't live too far away. So we had been trying to get out on our local trails about once a week. We had a really nice, summer-like stretch of weather, which is not normal for around here and we took advantage of it. On our first "real" trail ride since last September, Chance was struggling a bit with the muddy trails. She wanted to jump the mud, but the problem with that is there is so much mud, you can't just jump a 2 feet wide section of mud and be done with it. You actually have to walk through the mud a ways before you hit a dry stretch. So it didn't take too long for her to figure that out. The other thing was when my friends horse spooked in front of us, Chance did NOT spook along with her. I really like that! I was actually quite shocked because Chance can be quite spooky. When we got the big water crossing, I was going to use this as a training experience, no matter how long it took. She actually walked through the water, not jumped it, but she was trying to hurry! So that will take some work. She also gets quite nervous walking over bridges. I have worked on bridges with her since she was a yearling, I have a wood bridge at home. But it is different when you are out somewhere else. She has no problem getting on the bridge, she just feels all tense and ready to take off at any second. But that will all change the more she gets out and the more bridges we cross!! Then we had just finished our last narrow trail of the ride and it opens up onto a wide, sandy trail that takes us back to the trail head. My friend gave me a warning that she saw a dog quite a ways up the trail. Dogs are not an issue for Chance, but she wanted me to be aware in case Chance saw some movement up in the distance and spooked. We rounded the last 2 corners of the wide, sandy trail and all of a sudden my friend says "Oh look! There's that dog!" We stopped our horses and I looked and said "That is not a dog. That is a coyote!!" It was just standing in the middle of the trail staring at us. And it was huge and healthy. It just stared. By the time I got my cell phone out to take a picture, it started moving off the trail so I couldn't get a very good picture of it. But if you look closely in this next picture, you will see half of the coyote. Our horses never spooked or seemed concerned about it. I think they thought it was just a dog. Even when we walked by where it disappeared into the bushes, the horses didn't care. So Chance passed the wildlife test! We run into deer all the time out there, but we have never run into a coyote. And we literally came around the corner and ran into a coyote.

Coyote in the trail.

Then about a week later, we went on another ride. I took my friend a different direction from the last time (she is not familiar with these trails, I know them like the back of my hand!) We were on a really pretty trail in the woods and then all of a sudden it opened up into a clearing, which was new. I had been on this trail numerous times and although it had been awhile since I had been on this trail, I was shocked to see them taking all the trees down. Well, I shouldn't be shocked. It is a "tree farm" and the owners are just kind enough to let horse back riders use their property for trail riding. But that was a cool trail that is no longer a cool trail.

New clear cut.

Chance had no problem with the heavy equipment that was at least 5 times bigger then our truck.

Scary heavy equipment? No problem!!

We always take a break at the outhouse to let the horses rest.

Isn't my girl just beautiful?

And she walked through the water crossing again, although a little nervous and fast!! But the more water crossings we do, the better she will get. I am just happy she isn't trying to jump it anymore.

Scary water crossing? You bet!

Chance has been doing so well. I am so proud of my baby!! We still have a lot of work to do, but summer is almost here! I have another trail challenge coming up this weekend, which is the last one of the series. And I am taking Chance to my cousin Betsy's for a 3 day visit and trail rides, where she will get to experience an indoor arena!! I think that by the end of summer, Chance will be well on her way to being a fantastic trail horse! The possibilities are endless!!