Saturday 1 November 2014

Memorial Ride

As the snow comes in and everything is quietly going to sleep for the long cold of winter, Koda and I hit the point road for an easy trail.  Now, Koda has had a few days off, and with the changing temperatures he can get to be a bit feisty, but nevertheless I wanted to go out on this solo ride.  We headed out down the road.  
The Point Field Road
It was an alright ride even though Koda was being a bit of a pig, tossing his head about, trying to circle back home, etc.  He wasn't too nasty, but very consistently trying to get back home.  Bad thing on my part is that I wasn't in my usual riding gear, so I didn't have any extra oomph to get him to quit and continue forward.  Not the most relaxing of ride, but got through and have a way forward to change this attitude he sometimes gets.  

Dusk
The bribe to ride out nicely :)
When we got back to the yard, to give a bit of a training moment, I decided we were going to halt and stand in the middle of the yard until Koda relaxed and accepted my choice.  It took a while, with plenty of head tossing, pawing, fidgeting, and face making, but he finally did chill out with me petting him and remaining relaxed.
Impatient face
Just not impressed...
Frosty sunset
For the rest of the winter, the plan is to do these types of rides to get him to listen outside of the ring along with inside the ring.

Sneaking treats from the trailer