Field Trip

Awhile ago I asked Cinco's owner, M, if Truby and I could go on a trail adventure with her sometime. Those two trailer out to the trails several times a week, and I'm totally jealous. Of course, the catch being that Truby's a total homebody and immediately gets super anxious/shuts down by crossing the property line. 

When I asked, M immediately and enthusiastically replied YES! but I had to follow it up with "...probably need to do a few quick training sessions...." Lucky for us, M knew exactly what I had in mind. She'd had to do the same with Cinco. 

We talked about it, as she tried to figure out how to best plan for success. I already knew Truby trailed well (usually) and could handle minor traffic/cars/trailers (usually) but needed to get going right away and powerwalk her stress off,  my goal was a place nearby with an easy place to unload, near the trailhead, and with open views (no mesquite valleys please.)

We settled on the trailhead just an easy 10 minute drive away, at Saguaro National Park East. It's at the dead end of Speedway, close by, decent side of the road unloading area right at the trailhead, Plus it's pretty open for the most part. 

 Truby was suspicious!

Truby seemed to know something was up, and watched us ready the trailer with a beady eye. Cinco loaded right up, but Tru took a few minutes more than I would have expected. She usually goes on first, and I think the problem was that she really didn't think there was ROOM for her to get up on the trailer. She was going in the last stall of the slant load, and she just didn't seem to think she could fit. After a couple false starts, she loaded up and we locked them in, and drove uneventfully over to the trailhead. 

I fully expected Truby to want to explode off the trailer, kinda like when I unbutton my pants after too many tacos, so I clipped on a lunge line instead of her regular lead rope, but no, she hopped down and started checking things out fairly calmly, although a bit anxiously. I ditched the lunge for our regular rope and walked her around a bit while Cinco unloaded. She was def anxious and worried, wanting to drag me around a bit (omg! Trailers! omg! Poop! omg! omg!) 

"this place smells weird"

 Once Cinco was ready, I headed right over to the trailhead and Truby instantly chilled out. We met two horses coming back from their ride. Good ol' wooly quarter horses taking their older riders out for a nice walk in the desert. We exchanged greetings, and the calmness of the other horses seemed to reinforce Truby's more relaxed attitude.

 She looks ready and willing to explore

We hit the Wildhorse Trail....and Truby LOVED it! She was relaxed. She looked around with soft eyes. She lead Cinco calmly and confidentially. She was totally chill.

 "This place is full of cactus and not foods"

The trail we took started high, and then dropped a bit into a wash. There were wide stone steps in several places. I wondered how Truby would handle them at first, but she seemed to think this was a pretty cool puzzle and clomped right down, no hesitation. 

 Stones steps. Luckily, Truby thought these were neat.

 The second, and much steeper stairs led into a big wash, which we followed until we decided to turn around. Truby handled the deeper, loose sand well. Much better than I did! And she continued her happy, loose, swinging walk.

Comfortable in the wash

 She didn't even spook at the jackrabbits! There were actually two of them, and they're just creepy. They're just so big. Sometimes Truby gets some major side eye at these, sometimes they don't bother her. Today they didn't bother her at all.

These things are WEIRD. Just...too big. Tru didn't mind though.

 After leading most of the walk, I pulled Truby up and let Cinco lead. I think Truby enjoyed going first and setting the pace, but she was agreeable to letting Cinco go ahead. After awhile we retook the lead, and she was much happier.

 Letting Cinco lead

I love this picture.

 There were quite a few moments where I longed to just hop on Truby. She was so relaxed and so comfortable, even my overly cautiousness nature felt safe to be on her. She really seemed to be quite happy to be out there. She was interested in her surroundings. She wanted to be out there, not tolerating it because I asked her to. Not worried, or anxious at all. It was beautiful to see, and I'm really happy!

Nice view, eh?

Sun sets over Tucson

We beat the sunset back to the trailer, but Truby's anxiety level shot up immediately. She Did Not Want To Get Back On. We were chasing daylight, and Truby wouldn't load. To make matters even better, people were leaving the parking area up ahead, and flying down Speedway like it was named Speedway. And coming the other way, people were flying up Speedway to get to the dude ranch. No one even slowed down when they saw us. Nice.

Her "I'm not getting on that trailer!" face

Once I found out M didn't have to go to work that night, a lot of the pressure went off me. Though after a few minutes, we began to discus options. Unload Cinco and try and put Truby on first. Take Cinco home, and then try to load her alone. I voted for just walking her back to the barn. 

In the end, M and I worked together and Truby loaded up without any major dramas. Once M figured out to stand directly behind Truby (well behind) and not to the side, where M was unintentionally pressuring Truby to squirrel off sideways. By staying well behind her, she pressured her forward and onto the trailer. She did get a few taps with a lunge whip, but we all kept it low key and as relaxed as possible. No yelling, no pony whacking, no drama. Just slow, persistent asking her to load. And it worked! We got her on and headed home. 

She unloaded calmly again, and was still tense, but happy to see she was home again. She got lots of cookies and 10 minutes wrapped in her Back on Track sheet before tucking her in for the night. By the time I left she was happy again and ready for bed. M and I were ecstatic by how well the whole adventure had gone. For a first outing it went perfectly! Even the bobbles with trailering were fine, because we worked through it together. So proud of all of us!

Finally home