Starry on the Hill

The other night, I was riding with Kevin out on the trail.  On the way home, we have to ride down a short but steep hill that has deep ruts in it from erosion.  I was in the lead with Cruiser, who walks down hills extremely fast, and Starry was following us.  Once again, Starry started trotting on his way down.  Once again, I had to wait at the bottom, swatting mosquitoes, while Kevin struggled to turn Starry around and make him repeat the hill the right way.

This had been happening quite a bit the last few weeks, and if anything, it seemed to be getting worse.  It was time to have a talk with Kevin.  I knew this could be corrected.  I've gone through it myself with other horses.  I even think that we've gone through it with Starry.  I even think I may have written an article about it already. 

Although asking a horse to re-do a hill correctly before he can go home can discourage him from rushing down, it just wasn't working with Starry.  Remember-if you keep doing the same thing over and over again, and it doesn't work, maybe it's time to try something different.  I knew that one of the problems was Cruiser going down the hill very quickly ahead of Starry.  I told Kevin that maybe I should wait at the top, swatting mosquitoes, until he reaches the bottom.  That way, Starry wouldn't have a reason to rush.

I also had another idea.  I told Kevin that I felt that he needed to get control of Starry's feet.  Once Starry gets his momentum up, it is hard to stop him.  Pulling the reins only controls his head-Kevin needed to control his feet.

I suggested to Kevin that he walk down the hill a few strides and ask him to halt, stand for a few moments and ask him to walk a few more strides.  Halt him again and keep repeating this.  This way, Kevin can praise Starry for being good before he has a chance to try to trot.  Starry will also feel that Kevin is in charge-something that I don't think Starry realizes most of the time.  Yes, the truth is that Kevin is a big softie that lets Starry do whatever he likes much of the time.  Fortunately, Starry has the right personality for Kevin, and they usually stay out of trouble.

The next day, Kevin took Starry out on his own.  When they got to the hill, he did just what I suggested.  Since there was no other horses in front of him, Starry was happy to comply.

The next day, it was time to try it with Cruiser and me.  I told Kevin I would wait at the top of the hill, so that Starry was sure to succeed.  Kevin refused.  He wanted me to go first so he could really test Starry to see if it would work.

Cruiser walked quickly down the hill, and we stood at the bottom to wait for them.  Here came Starry.  He walked a few steps, stopped, walked a few steps, stopped.  As we watched, swatting mosquitoes, Starry walked down the hill like a perfect gentleman.  Mission accomplished.  Kevin is going to work more with this in the weeks to come, and will gradually decrease the number of stops each time until they can walk down the hill without a pause or a trot-regardless of what Cruiser is doing.