Trail ride report
On Sunday morning, Tara invited me to come with her on a trail ride around the farm. The trail ride was fun and enlightening. Kasane was pulled out of the stall, saddled, and away we went (instead of working her in the ring first). Tara rode Rooster (Friesian/Paint cross), Carmen lead Geronimo (standardbred/QH cross), and I was on Kasane. We headed out down the road and past the pastures, and then along the woods past the pond. Eventually we end up in a loop around a subdivision that is full of mini farms.
She was so excited to be going out. She kept trotting and catching up to Rooster and the sticking her nose on his butt. (They are stall buddies / boyfriend-girlfriend / neighbors.) She loves him when she’s in heat and likes him otherwise.
Interesting features encountered include people fishing (with plastic buckets! oh no! and chairs and baggies and plastic buckets!), lots of dogs, Rottweiler, gate, pond, and bridge crossing. Rooster, who has been out and seen a lot of stuff, was backing up and not wanting to lead past the buckets. So my brave baby said “I can do this.” She walked up to everything looked at, and walked by. The people were great, too. They stopped and talked to us and didn’t cast their fishing poles (phew).
Going by the gate is a bit harder. There is enough space at the end of the gate and tree to squeeze through. If you are 6 feet and your horse is 17 HH then fitting by isn’t a problem. I hit my knee squarely on the fence post, so Kasane and I always have to navigate through the woods to get past the fence. She’s been getting better about that. She doesn’t worry so much that the other horses will leave her.
There is a small bridge on the trail that we have to cross. I’ve lead Kasane across it, but haven’t asked her to ride across it before. The bridge isn’t very wide or long, maybe 8 feet at most. It’s made of wood and someone had the bright idea to cover it with gravel. When you walk across it, you can feel it bounce under your feet. We always go one at a time. Rooster went first and Kasane was very close behind him. She crossed beautifully, no hesitation, but it felt like her feet with all scattered — like a foal on ice. She was perfect though. No complaints from me.
Just up from the bridge, Tara asked if I’d like to trot. Sure! We hadn’t trotted on a trail with another horse so away we went up the little hill on the nice wide trail. The entire time Kasane had her nose hovering over Rooster’s tail like she was going to bite it. Her ears were not back. It was like one of those “I’m gonna get ya” moments. She
was such a goof. So strange to ride her like that. She was really moving out to keep up with Rooster, meanwhile her head is cocked sideways and she’s trying to chew on his tail and not responding much when i asked her to back off. But she wasn’t scare of anything. Which was awesome. She is very very brave.
She lead the trail on part of the way back. You should have seen her moving out and walking with such huge strides. She out paced Rooster easily. I was so tickled with her. The dogs that came along side us in the subdivision didn’t bother her. Even the three little yappy dogs didn’t bother her. What got her was when the attack miniature horse
charged up along the fence and stopped next to her and snorted. She shied at that a little. We all started laughing.
Rooster lead the way when we got back to the pond and headed back home. We got up past the buckets (they were all good about them now and not worried) and turned out of the woods into the fields. That’s when the big Rottweiler, Max, charged up from behind and started barking. Tara stopped Rooster and turned side ways to face Max. Kasane skidded and then we did the same. She wasn’t worried. She looked at Max, and, like Rooster, started eating. I was so proud of her! Isis would have charged off and gone bonkers. Dogs made her exceedingly nervous.
That was our trail ride. I didn’t have a chance to take pictures. My cell phone is awkward to handle when riding. I wear gloves and have to take them off to use the cell phone to take a picture.