After the bucketfuls of rain on Friday, I was not feeling overly optimistic about pony trekking all day Saturday. I envisaged getting very wet and cold up in the mountains for four hours. I am delighted to say the weather lifted and we had a lovely day, where it only rained during lunchtime when we were in the pub.
I was quite excited about the trek as I was riding Prince, who I have only rode once before and is something of a step up from the beginners horses that I normally ride. Definitely required a bit more concentration, than some of the other mounts and I can't say my handling of him was expert in any sense of the word.
We set out with a group of about twelve of us and I took my preferred position near the back of the trek. May be not the best logic, but I always feel there are less horses behind to tread on you if you fall off during the canter. Once again, we were heading for the Queens Head pub, Cmvoy for the usual pub lunch so set off down the bridle path before joining the road for a short while before hitting the forestry path. As a tractor approached, they shouted a warning to me to rein in because Prince didn't like tractors. I could feel him tensing up and was hoping we wouldnt end up in the middle of the road but fortunately he only moved a couple of feet up the grass verge.
We trotted along the forestry and managed a short canter at one point before starting to descend for the road down the hill for lunch. Once again I had my hands full as Prince took a dislike to some motorbikes behind us although to be fair they were being driven very considerately and got off and walked the bikes past the horses. We dismounted then and walked the ten minutes to the pub as the road is very steep and slippery so not ideal for riding down.
After lunch, we returned along the forestry hoping for a few canters. I was a little tense about the canters having not cantered on Prince before and the others at the back found it very amusing that they see my position change and my body tense everytime they announced the next canter. Unfortunately for me, the horse in front was not very keen to canter and preferred to keep to a trot whilst the others cantered off ahead. To say Prince didnt like it was an understatement. After holding him back for a while as we are not allowed to get out of line, Prince had had enough and decided he was going to overtake whether I liked it or not. My ensuing yells of Oh Shit! Oh Shit! Oh Shit at an increasing volume prompted much laughter from the trail guides at the back and a quick glance from the guide at the front who saw I was just managing to pull back in line after overtaking about three horses. Thats the only problems with being a regular and mates with all the guides is that it is going to take me a while to live that down and I will probably never convince them I didn't think I was going to fall off. I was just worried how far we would go before he stopped! Having used all my strength to pull back and bring him out of the canter, I was pretty sure that in the end it was still his decision not mine to slow down. That said it certainly added a bit of excitement to the day's horseriding.
Back at the farm, we untacked and sorted the horses out and I decided to stay for the evening and go to the pub. The only problem was that with over an hours drive home, there was no alcohol for me. That said lovely evening was had by all and one of the guys drove back up the valley in front of me to the main road. This was very reassuring seeing as there are seven miles of windy single track road with no lights and no mobile reception so if you broke down on your own it would not be fun, especially at nearly 1 o'clock in the morning.
First, I envy the fact that you can stop at a pub for lunch!! Ever lucky!! :-)
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't mind, but I am going to share a bit of my experience with trail riding. You may want to position yourself in the middle or near the front of the pack instead of at the end. In the horse world, it's the slowest or last in the line that's going to be eaten by the tiger, so being at the end of the line may make some horses nervous. Perhaps that's why Prince wanted to get ahead?
I also tense up at certain aspects of trail riding. Our horses feel that and wonder if there is something they should be tense about, too. To release tension, I take deep breaths. If you are relaxed, your horse will be. If you can, try really hard to keep from squeezing your legs (we do this because we think it helps us hang on, but it is actually telling the horse to go forward) and from pulling on the reins (it just causes him to pull forward in resistance) if you think your horse is becoming unmanageable. If Prince tries to take off again, do an emergency halt by pulling ONE rein straight to your hip, causing his head to turn. A horse can't run if he can't see where he is going. You end up walking in a small circle, but that is better than him taking off. Keep walking him in a circle until he calms down. Good luck!!!
Thanks for the advice. I think Prince just wanted a good canter but you may be right about being at the back not being right for him. I have noticed that the horses seems to have their positions and some hate being lead horse and some hate being at the back. Pulling in with one rein is a really good tip and something I have done in the past instinctively but had forgotten in my panic. Hopefully the more I ride the more these things will become automatic like when you drive a car and I will do them without thinking. When you panic it is difficult to remember what you have been taught and apply it in the heat of the moment but I guess practice will make perfect.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Prince is the easiest horse either. He is not a beginners horse but they won't use him as a guide horse either because he won't do gates etc. As they said he is the sort of horse you just need to sit quietly on and not rev him up or try and make him do anything out of the ordinary. We were both getting impatient with the horse in front who is always very slow and once past him he did get back in line but the problem was I knew he was in control not me which was scary as I didnt know what he would do next. Lol