20+ miles

Yesterday my partner, my friend K, and I all hit the trails bright and early in the morning. I had wanted to get Navi across the street and ride some new trails. We had a little issue at the road and her not wanting to cross so I just got off and walked her across. No biggie. Once we were through the 1st gate it was time for me to mount back up, that took a minute as she was insisting on coming up on the hill with me. We got that figured out and we were off. We met up with some cows who found us non-scary and just hung out while we accomplished our 1st water crossing. Now Navi lives in her irrigation ditch in the pasture so I was really hoping crossing water would be an easy thing for her. K said she shouldn't have an issue,lol, as she is a water baby.  And she didn't, didn't even bat an eye. Good Navi! We decided to turn around as it was getting hotter and Navi was getting tired. As we turned around we made a rattle snake mad and it rattled at us, it was off the trail so we just quickly and quietly left the area. No spook in her at all with the snake. She was a little rushy going home trying to keep up with the two faster horses, but otherwise I can't complain one bit! For a horse that is just now approaching her 1st 30 rides she is doing awesome out on the trails. We of course have fine tuning to do, but she has been wonderful to ride.

My goal was to hit the 20 mile mark yesterday, we did that plus 2 miles :)  Off to hit the trails again bright and early today!

Navi and I continue/Self Doubt

Navi and I have been getting more rides in. Some good, some just ok. Saturday we lost all "gas" and her steering left a lot to be desired! But then Sunday we tackled 4.3 miles of hills, cows, turkeys, and "off roading" and she did amazing!
 See here is the thing, like I said before, Navi was a blank slate when she came home. She was to be my first start to finish horse. So when we have bad rides/days I have no one to blame but myself, however it works the other way too, when we have good rides/days I am responsible for that too. I suppose that is really no different than any other horse/rider partnership. Navi and I are finding our riding partnership now in this stage of our relationship and it overall is going great! So many days in this journey I was pretty sure we were never going to get there. The self doubt was huge. I knew I could do this, but there were moments when I really really really questioned myself. Had I gotten in over my head? Did I really know what I was doing? Could I really use clicker training to "break" a horse? All the things you have been told about horses growing up comes back real quick when you get scared and feelings of needing to "win"come out in due to the fear of getting hurt. Have I used pressure and release on Navi? Yes I have. We have done quite a bit of pressure and release work. Do I still mix it up with clicker training? Yes. Is it suppose to be that way in a perfect world? Nope. In a perfect world of clicker training there would be no pressure and release involved. While I am moving away from mixing the two training methods one step at a time it takes a while. It is a journey, one that is never ending. I follow people who use clicker training exclusively and some day I want to grow up to be them :)
 I have learned many new things on this journey of clicker training my horses:

1. It takes time, and lots of it. Training is never fast and it really does take a ton of time.
2. It is possible if you keep at it.
3. You can control a 1000 lb animal riding without a bit if you give them a reason to listen to you other than fear. 
4. Sometimes you will doubt yourself and at times others will doubt you, but don't give up.  

Well I am off to hit the trails with Navi. We shall see how today goes 😆

Our ride on July 2. Taking a break in the shade.