The Colt Journal, ride 12 continued

I was having problems uploading pictures for ride 12, so this is part two.

We left off just before the water crossing at Lake Creek (shown across and back for photo ops). Photos by Robin (well, Rocky wasn't taking them).

Notice the calm demeanor of both rider and horse, and the erect posture and gentle hands of the rider. Do my hands look gentle, Katherine? It helps to have such a good horse to make this look easy. What you may not see unless you are looking closely is that the colt was still a little apprehensive about this water crossing (his first alone) and I was having to "ride" him across. The fact that he trusts me so much at this point in his training says a lot of him.

For the second part of the ride, Robin wanted to ride north along the bike path next to the Village Road (it goes to Teton Village where the world famous Jackson Hole ski slopes are) to see if the State land would make for good riding. If nothing else, I figured it would be good experience for Smooch. So we headed north along the bike path. Neither of us was sure if we were supposed to be riding horses on it, but we figured if one pooped, we would just kick it off the path. A bicycle went by. Robin asked me if Smooch had ever seen bicycles. Of course silly, you were with me on the ride up Pole Canyon! But a bicycle could just as well be a fence post in his own pasture for all Smooch cares, so on we went. He was more worried about the white stripe painted across the asphalt path, which he investigated, determined was not dangerous, and never looked at them again the entire ride. We rode maybe a few miles...never making it to the State land before deciding to turn around and head back. The asphalt paving with sap from the Cotton Wood trees made things very slippery, so we rode next to the path in the grass on the way back. You would think both horses hadn't eaten in a week the way they were grabbing at the grass stalks the entire ride back. I picked up a piece of litter, a plastic water bottle, on the way back and found it had a very loud crinkle sound when squeezed. Very nice for sound desensitization...Smooch never paid it any mind, even when I held it out front and proceeded to squeeze and crinkle it to death.

About a quarter mile from home I decided to do a little road desensitization and pulled Smooch up next to the busy highway for the rest of the ride. He didn't mind anything including the RVs that were driving by. I think this guy is going to make a nice mounted patrol horse!