Jade and Cory on the Salinas River Beach
I wanted to share my latest breakthrough with Jade, the horse that I almost gave up on earlier this year. After much deliberation, I came to the conclusion that I needed to try a little harder to help Jade with her fears and bad behavior on trail rides.
My first course of action was to use a trainer to work with her at the beach (crashing waves and all), because it is a place where she has shown extreme anxiety in the past. By the end of the training session, Jade was trotting through the water as the waves moved in and out, something I thought I would never witness. In the process, she needed a lot of support from the trainer, but trusted her as she got right in the water with Jade.
After the session, another of my dreams came true…I rode Jade bareback on the beach. She had the most beautiful, smooth trot in the sand and it was everything I hoped for. We have been back for at least 3 more rides on the beach and all of them calm and uneventful. Wow! This helped me with the decision to go the next step.
My next plan was to take her up to the Trinity Mountains, where I have my horse property, with no other horses there to support her…only me. The idea I had was that if she had only me to rely on, it might build her trust in me while out on the trail.
When we arrived, (after a 9 hour haul), she was anxious to get into her corral and have a big drink of water. She would not eat the hay I put out, as she was not yet comfortable enough to put her head down to eat. I set up a chair next to her stall and sat there until she finished most of her hay. Over the course of the next 8 days, I sat in that chair a lot to remind her that I was there for her and she was not alone. When I would get up to walk back to the house, she would whinny at me…just like I was her horse pal leaving the barn. I felt my plan was working just like I wanted it to.
Jade Chowing Down in the Pasture
Once Jade began to feel at home, she gladly went out into her corral and grazed for hours in belly deep grass. My incredible husband, along with some local labor, were able to complete our ~4 acre pasture fence, so half way into our trip, Jade had an entire pasture to herself. She appeared by all accounts to be a “happy camper”.
Jade Owning the Whole Pasture
We rode every day out of the 8 days we were there and had not one single bad incident. We rode solo, we rode with my husband on his bicycle and we rode with a hiker, with no problems.
We even found ourselves useful when two young adults (a brother and sister) tragically drowned up river from our swimming hole. The bodies were lodged under a large boulder with no way to recover them. The recovery team was hoping that after a few days, they would become more boyant and begin to float downstream. Jade and I (with binoculars and camera) headed up the river canyon trail as far as we could safely go, watching the river along the way. Some deer in the trail gave Jade a start, but she hardly reacted compared to previous similar encounters. The day before that some hikers had run into a rattlesnake on the trail, so we were keeping our eyes out for snakes as well. As much as we tried, we were unsuccessful in having any sightings of, or helping with the recovery of the drowning victims, and by the time we headed back to Santa Cruz, the two bodies still had not been recovered. A sadness sort of fell over our little valley of 200 residents because, of course, everyone knew the folks that died.
On a lighter note though, one of the best rides Jade and I had was when we rode through town out to the levee along side the little airstrip. I was thinking as we rode, “I wonder how Jade would do if a plane landed while we were right here”. Lo and behold, while we were along the airstrip, a plane flew low and fast over the the strip. About 1 minute later that plane came in from the other direction for a landing. Jade merely glanced at the incoming plane and never missed a step. She was completely unfazed by it. Wow…I think she grew up overnight!
On our way back towards the barn, we took a detour. I wanted to go down to the river and practice river crossings. However, when we got there, the river was running much more swiftly and deeply than usual for this time of year. Not wanting to put us in harm’s way, we decided to go in only knee deep and have a drink, then come back out. I am confident that if conditions were right, Jade would not have any problem crossing the river.
We headed up the trail from the river, and on our way home, discovered the Farmer’s Market in progress in front of the post office. Jade had several admirers there and they were all vying to hold her for me while I purchased a loaf of homemade walnut bread. After that, the two of us headed off, not into the sunset, but pretty darn close. We went back home with bread in arm, and both feeling quite proud of what we had accomplished together.
I am now at the point that I believe Jade is fast becoming the solid trail horse that I wished for long ago. I am so pleased that I realized, before it was too late, that taking more time and commiting to sometimes uncomfortable training situations can help make a horse your ideal partner.