E's 4-H group had a trail ride at the local reservoir last night. I wasn't sure I would be able to join in the fun; Curly was sedated earlier in the afternoon to have his teeth floated and his sheath cleaned. The poor boy had been so drugged he could barely walk himself over to the trailer to leave the vet's office.
But by the time we were ready to take off for the trail he was clear-eyed and full of energy. I ran him in the round pen for a bit to make sure he was attentive to me (which he was) and then A tried him out in the arena to make sure he wasn't hiding any sneaky tricks up his sleeve. He did challenge her a bit when asked to canter but A brought him back around - no bucking her off! (Although he thought about it!)
Curly was full of forward energy when I mounted. I let him take the lead on the trail, but kept him at a walk. He decided that he really didn't like one of the other horses and tried to bite him at one point. And he decided that a dead skunk and a watering trough were potential horse killers. But other than that, all went well for the first half of the ride.
On the second half he began his head shaking. At first I thought it just might be the bugs, but as I noticed that no other horses were moving around so much I decided that he was actually starting to let me know that he was done. I rode for about 15 minutes with him doing this before I decided to dismount and walk him the rest of the way. And he immediately stopped shaking his head. I'm glad I listened to my gut and got off - even though I felt like a wuss for doing so at the time.
We had to walk about 3/4 of a mile to get to the trailers - with a hill or two on the way. I actually enjoyed doing this; Curly wasn't too sure. I think he thought that he'd have it super easy once I got off, but I kept the pace up and forced him to keep going. We didn't slow down the mounted riders one bit. Very good exercise for me!
E felt great after the ride. She had been worried before we started; her last two trail experiences had been hard - and wet. Both she and Monte were happy this time, and she only dismounted once (to go over the water channel - which she later admitted she probably could have ridden him over). I think it was a good break for him to go out on the trail. They have another lesson with Anna today.
On Sunday's lesson, when Anna asked E to take it up to a canter E had to use her whip to get him to respond initially. And boy did he respond! It was the fastest ride E has ever had. She was totally unnerved by it at first but discovered that she can keep her seat even at high speeds. She later said that she could tell that he had even more speed in him. I bet he'd be fantastic on barrels!
G'pa J is healing from his fall. He's still in a wheel chair but can stand for short bits of time now. He says he's feeling stronger every day.
