Kona's Education

Kona is doing very well at Pleasant Prospect. He's been there two weeks now and is already looking healthier and fitter and he's getting used to trail riding.

Every day is a trail riding day at Pleasant Prospect so part of the thought process is that if ever a horse is going to get good at crossing water and dealing with ditches and going through mud and sliding down hills and galloping up hills and jumping downfall and dealing with herds of cows and deer popping out everywhere and packs of docs and paddock after paddock of grazing fellow horses who want to chat and waving fields of hay and tall fields of corn and steeplechase jumps and water fountains and stone walls, etc., it is at Pleasant Prospect. No wonder they are all such good foxhunters.

Kona is not afraid of anything, as it turns out. But that does not mean he necessarily is interested in "letting nature touch him." So we are engaged in an educational process in which he is learning that it is futile to protest and that our destination is to be decided by the rider, not by him. He is quite mannerly when following behind another horse. It is a different matter when he is in front, or alone. Some notable highlights:
Kona went out with a group of three other horses and four dogs the other day. He was being ridden by Jennifer -- one of the people who breaks foxhunters. I was on Giggles bringing up the rear. Dale was on Manny and another girl was on a horse called Dancer who is learning to travel in groups. The four dogs were quite lunatic -- leaping in and out of the river along side us, running at the horses feet, etc. Manny had a small fit -- Kona didn't budge. Dancer stepped on bulldog and we thought may have broken his foot based on the wailing and screeching that arose from the little dog. Kona looked at the dog in disgust. Turned out the dog was fine. Eventually the dogs got tired and followed along right behind Giggles and me panting in a pack and oddly, the noise of the panting was quite deafening to me. I couldn't hear a blessed thing other than the dogs. Kona passed the "dog test."
There is a a place Kona does not like to enter the woods. You have to go down a little hill and around a jump (or jump it) to get onto the muddy track. There are large plants and ferns and things that look like pitcher plants everywhere and some trees. Kona does not like this spot -- I do not know why. So Jennifer tries to make him go and he plants his feet and whirls around and acts like a jerk and runs sideways and curls his neck up and goes backwards and pouts. Jennifer says, "uh, no." And after some fuss and fighting Kona moves very quickly down the hill and past the jump in a very agitated and engaged way. Jennifer comes back and makes him do it three more times. Less fighting each time. Eventually, no fighting. This is why Jennifer was riding him. Success!
Then Kona and I went out a few days later with my friend Amanda who was on Burton. This is when Kona began to realize that resistance is futile and he went first through any of number of stream crossings and mud holes and ditch crossings. Burton plodded patiently along behind. A few times Kona decided he'd rather not go and we had a brief scuffle and I won every time. Yay! At one point he slid down a ditch and bumped his large hindquarters on the side of the ditch on the way down which knocked him off a balance a little so we went careening through some undergrowth and emerged victorious on the other side. He was nonplussed by it all. Just had a few twigs in his hair.
Then we went to cross one of the many streams we must cross to get home and just as we were stepping into it a frog jumped off a rock and said "ribbit!" and hit the water with a big splash. Kona went into reverse gear and poor Burton only just got out of the way in time. On our next attempt Kona decided to jump the stream starting as far away as possible and jumping as high in the air as he could. We flew through the air. I felt like I was on a carousel horse -- whee!!!! It was hilarious. I guess frogs are scary. Burton is behind saying, "do I have to do that too? Looks like an awful lot of energy." He decided to just walk through the stream.
So, everyday is an adventure. Next steps are to see what Kona does cantering through the woods (I may try that today....) and cantering in the fields (don't plan to try that anytime soon). Then we will jump small logs, etc., all the while striving to remain mannerly.

And the best part is that now I have two horses that can go out in the trails! Burton is safe enough to be a guest horse, provided the guest does not become alarmed at Kona's occasional antics. I bet by the end of the summer Kona will be perfect at the farm! And I bet he's hunting by the end of the season (we'll have Jennifer take him out the first few times....!).