Aidol's Story....... Tales from the Trails........ the Switch

Part 1

After that wreck we tried everything I could think of to get the Arabian horse to settle. The only place Mark appeared comfortable was with his head tucked right up into Aidol's tail. There was Aidol on his first trail ride being the "big brother" for the spooked older horse. It was a sight to see.

At first it looked like we might make some head way. The horse seemed to be content riding right up on top of Aidol. We thought if we went along that way enough, the horse would finally relax. Then we'd get to a check point for our draw.

As usual at check points like this horses would get stacked up waiting to make their draw. There were always horses before us still waiting for their numbers and more would come in behind us as we were waiting.

From the moment Mark saw strange horses he would get rattled again. The more horses there were the more rattled Mark got. Dave would end up getting off the horse waiting to make his draw. If he got back on before we left the camp we were doing good. I'll bet that first half of the ride, Dave spent more time out of the saddle leading his horse down the trail than he actually spent in. Not my idea of a great trail riding experience.

Because this ride was around a lake, there weren't the usual cutbacks that could take a rider quickly back into camp. I'm pretty sure if there had been, Dave would have opted out of the rest of the ride. Can't say that I blame him, the ride really wasn't going as planned.

There was one thing that was going really well that was Aidol. The young horse didn't seem to mind being in front or having Mark's nose shoved up his b*tt. He didn't mind the horses stacked up at the check points. He really didn't seem to be bothered by much of anything.

Half way through the ride, I decided to switch horses with Dave. By then the man had settled enough I didn't think he'd bother the young horse at all. As long as Dave was calm, I believed Aidol would probably be too. It was time to see if Aidol would be as good for Dave as he was being for me.

As I've said before, Dave doesn't know much. Sometimes that can be a good thing. Dave didn't know enough to understand there could be risks in riding such a green horse. Dave had no fear of the situation at all. To Dave, this was his beloved horse and he believed Aidol would take care of him.

Getting the man onto the 15.2 H horse wasn't a pretty sight. It hadn't been pretty on the 14.2 H Mark even with me holding the horse and a stirrup. Dave didn't really have a "feel" for what his body needed to do to get onto the bigger horse. We really could have used that crane.

Aidol didn't let any of Dave's bumblings bother him. Granted I was holding the horse but someone holding has not prevented many a horse from walking off. Aidol stood there like he was asked waiting for Dave to haul himself up the horse's side.

When Dave finally did get to the point he could throw his leg over the horse, the man soundly thumped the horse on his croup. Aidol didn't even flinch at the intrusion. He stood there the way he'd been taught. The horse stood perfectly as Dave picked up the reins and he didn't walk off until asked. I couldn't believe this was the same horse, I'd mounted just an hour ago. Aidol was indeed taking care of Dave.

For me, getting on Mark was pretty much how it had been getting on Aidol. The horse didn't want to stand still. He wanted to walk off and get up close to Aidol. Luckily for me that hand shorter horse is much easier to mount. Even if it wasn't graceful, I managed to get myself on and situated before the horse got into any trouble. Once again we were off.

Right from the start, I had a jigging horse but then that didn't surprise me. The horse had been rewarded for jigging by a rider who dismounted. I figured as soon as the horse realized I wasn't going to get off and walk, he'd quit with the behavior and I was right.

From that point forward the only time I had issues with the horse was when others wanted to pass or when we got to those check points. At the very sound or sight of another horse, Mark was instantly fried. The horse would not settle until all strange horses were gone. I wondered if this was going to be a permanent thing or if it would only be on this ride. Only time would tell.

Aidol finished up the ride like a champ. Dave decided trail riding was fun after all. It turned out not to be such a bad day. Mark probably wouldn't agree but he was really glad to see our horse trailer. He actually whinnied when he saw it, silly horse.

As we groomed up our horses to put them away, I discovered the stingers on my horse. There were probably about a dozen or so on Mark's shoulder and his neck. They were hot and swollen. It was no wonder the horse was so worried every time we got near other horses. Those riders had stirred up the bees and he'd been stung. In the horse's mind he probably associated the stings with strange horses. It was amazing he'd behaved as well as he had under the circumstances.

To be continued...............

The Down Time



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