Dallas Updates and Clarence Finale

I've been continuing to train for M twice a week and things have been going extremely well.

Clarence
Clarence was being so consistent in the ring that we decided to go ahead and jump start his trail riding career. One day M saddled Doc up and I hopped on Clarence. We rode the few minutes up the street to the trail head and Clarence acted like he'd been trail riding his entire life.

He was completely unfazed by traffic and seemed content to be off the farm, seeing new things. That first day we mostly walked. I hadn't brought my whip with me so I wound up hand walking him through some of his earlier ditch/water crossings, but over all he did really well. On the way home, M pushed Doc into a canter so I could see if Clarence would do the same. After a bit of urging, he broke into an easy stride and cruised right along, completely unconcerned by the fact that Doc had taken off like a shot from a cannon. When it came time to pull up, Clarence stopped softly and easily and resumed his western-esque trot.

The following week, I had Tor shadowing me for the afternoon. The plan was to have her catch a nap in my car while I went out with M, but M offered to let Tor take Doc out for a spin if she felt like joining us. Of course, Tor wasn't about to say no to a chance to ride the Amwell Valley trails, so M got on her pony, Blue, and the three of us went out together.

That day I had my dressage whip with me, but it turned out I didn't really need it. The three of us trotted around fields and wandered through the woods. When we came to the wide creek crossing behind the air field, Clarence splashed right across, leading the way. We cantered a few times in the big field across the way and Clarence was happy to lead or follow. He never pulled and he rolled happily along, enjoying the perfect weather.

When we were heading back, we let the horses out for one last run. Doc, with a fearless Tor on board, seemed to shout, "I've been waiting all month for this!!!"

Tor shouted ahead to me before they flew by in a red blur of  churning legs. Clarence barely flinched an ear, but I wanted to see how fast he could go. With a cry of, "Go, go, go!!" I booted Clarence forward. He picked it up a gear. I clucked and he sped up again, and again, and again until we were keeping pace with the speedy chestnut. Blue galloped along behind us, trying his hardest to keep up with the bigger horses.

At the end of the field, I reined Clarence in. Without a moment of resistance, he eased back into a steady, slow, three-beat canter. The race was over as far as he was concerned.

Doc on the other hand, probably would have leaped across the upcoming driveway and kept going if Tor had let him. She was grinning ear to ear, completely not bothered by the lack of brakes.

M seemed excited at how well Clarence was doing on his early outings and I told her I felt confident that he was ready to start going out solo.

The next week I arrived to find M beaming. It turns out she took my advice and took Clarence out all on her own. He was, in her words, perfect. He crossed water, didn't spook at traffic or deer, and cantered like a gentleman. She had fallen in love with his gait and felt that she could trust him completely.

And so I'm done training Clarence. In about two months he went from being 'dangerous' and so hard to handle that M debated selling him to being a joy to ride both at home and on the trails. M is looking forward to having him be her husband horse.

Dallas
While Dallas is definitely the more fearful and traumatized horse out of the pair, the thoroughbred is making progress of his own. There was a day that he didn't want to be caught and I wound up tacking Clarence up to round him up from horseback in the pasture... but other than that, we seem to have finally made a break through.

I started doing a lot of ground work with the horse to get his confidence up and teach him some verbal commands. We started with basic lunging and you could see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to figure out how this black magic worked. When I lunge, I used a lot of body language combined with voice commands to control both gait and direction. At one point, Dallas stared very intently at me while I pointed to the right and clucked at him. His ears were up and his eyes were puzzled. Then, as if a switch flipped, he kind of snapped out of it and followed my arm with his gaze as if to say, "AHH! You want me to go THAT way!" That, folks, is what we call a lightbulb moment.

After only two sessions on the lunge line, the difference in Dallas was visible. He went from wide eyed and skittish to learning how to work through his fear and looking to me for guidance. One day I put him on the lunge line and he calmly walked out and circled around me, head down, eyes soft, ears on me. I ran him through the walk, trot, and canter, then got on him. He stood rock still at the mounting block and didn't even bat an eye when I swung on board. I was suddenly on a relaxed, obedient horse. We circled the ring at the walk, trot, and canter, and he was actually seeking contact and relaxing through his back. I was able to ride him around on a loose rein right past all the scary objects at the far end of the ring. He didn't look to the barn or his buddy a single time. At long last, he was ready for M to ride.

M has taken two lessons on Dallas now and the change in him is amazing. I think he'll be ready for his trail debut within a month. His whole personality has changed and the horse who once freaked out if you raised a hand within a few feet of his face, now comes to you looking for ear scratches.

Dallas definitely needs more time and hand-holding that his pasturemate, but we're finally starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. He's a sweet horse by nature and I can only imagine the horrors he must have seen to get this bad. I'm kicking myself for not getting before video of this horse because his turn around is really an amazing one. I need to get photos of him with M on board, looking like a relaxed hunter pony. I'll have to have her write a testimonial when it's all said and done.