Journey America Part 2

Training the Mares

On my last Long Ride, I had my hands full when it came to training my mounts.

Frenchie, a tall and thick quarter horse built like a tank, had been out in a field for several years. When I first tried to work with him he bucked so hard he ripped my jeans, broke my finger and left me with a bruised ego. Only 7 days until my departure from the Calgary Stampede, I worked tirelessly to get him to calm down and carry the pack saddle – not an easy task.

Luckily, this time around, my mares were calm, cool and collected from day one. And As faith would have it, I also only met them with seven days before my departure.

On the first afternoon I spent several hours riding them and working on ponying. Some horses do not like to follow another animal so close, and some hate being followed. This can become dangerous to both rider and horse when one tries to bite or kick the other on the side of a busy road or on a narrow trail some 11,000 feet high.

Thankfully my gorgeous mares passed the first test with flying colours. They followed one another like they had been doing it their entire lives.

On the second day I introduced the pack saddle to Life. When I untied her I held my breath waiting for her to start bucking and explode with the orange panniers on her back. Nothing. She put her head down and started grazing. I was amazed at how calm she was while she carried the pack behind Doll and I.

The third day was tense as we made our way to the busy highway for the first time. Because I ride thousands of kilometres on my trips, it’s impossible to avoid busy roads. So, before leaving, I needed to get my mares bomb proof to car traffic and noise. One freak attack by the mares could send myself and them into oncoming traffic.

As they began to hear the rattle from the big trucks blowing by in the distance, they started to tense up. As did I. It is hard to explain the feeling of being atop an animal next to such large vehicles moving so fast, but it’s something like meeting a wild grizzly bear. It’s scary!

When we finally reached the road, I took a deep breath and kicked them up to the grassy patch next to the highway. We were pretty far from the traffic but every vehicle that went by made Life run up. As she would hit Doll, she too would want to take off running. I had to hold her up and give a couple of jerks to Life’s lead rope in order to stop both mares. This lasted about half an hour but eventually they both calmed down and learned that nothing would harm them.

For the next couple of days I continued working with the mares from sun up to sun down. Slowly adding more kilometres on as the sun tried to kill us with its rays. The temperature near the 40’s.

Several days I simply stood while the mares grazed near the highway, in order to become comfortable with the loud noise and on the last day even took them into a busy gas station. They did great!

Time to point their noses south and begin our ride to the end of the world – Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina. I can’t wait to see what the first week has in store.

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