Went on a trail ride along Old Mineral Springs Road today. Jeaux and Mackie have already been before, but this time we decided to bring Blaze, too. She did wonderfully, other than trying to leap across a foot-wide ditch. Goofy horse. Dad and I raced her and Jeaux to see who was faster (finally!). Blaze stayed direcly behind Jeaux... for about 10 seconds! Dad said she passed him like he was standing still. That's my girl. She's quite the little racer- and don't get me started on her endurance. Speaking of, it was really tested today. We could not get her back in the trailer... so I had to ride her all the way back home- all three and a half miles. It was actually really fun.
Went outside to groom the horses this morning to discover that Mackie had been 'skunked.' Goshdurnit, Mackie. How the heck did you do that?
And just to let you know, yes, she did go in.
Well, as we recently had our trailer modified to raise the top another 2 and 1/2 feet, Blaze has gotten out of practice. Whopee for me. Anyway, I've been working with her (feeding her in the trailer, taking her on short rides in it, etc.). It seems she really likes to be talked to, so I tried that, continually holding a steady conversation answered by nickers and cocked ears.
Coyotes. Lots of coyotes. They've been infesting Monroe and we've heard quite a few out back. Will seriously consider investment in donkey to protect herd.
Blaze has trailer problems. She HATES to load. So lately I've been working with her on it by feeding her in there, usually while making a lot of noise to get her accustomed to those strange sounds she'll hear while trailering. It's been working fairly well. Anyway, in order to work with her, the other horses have to get in their stalls first, because they'll try to come in the trailer while we're working with Blaze. I was just getting the feed ready today, when Jeaux noticed that one
My dad, McKinley and I were going to go trail-riding through our woods. Dad was on Jeaux, McKinley was on Mackie, and I was bareback on- who else?- The Storm. Now she hates- I mean really hates- depressions it he ground. So when we came to the dry creek bed, she wouldn't
On the way back a man with another gaited horse (a breed of horse bred to walk a certain way, usually smoothly) and a lady who had been wanting to ride her to see what all the fuss over gaited horses was about. She got on that man's horse and she was automatically a convert. Whether it's a Missourri Fox Trotter, Tennessee Walking Horse, or Peruvian, there's nothing like a smooth-gaited horse. And oh yeah, cowboys DO ride gaited horses.
My dad and I had our first mock drill for the C.E.R.T. team. A dummy was placed out in the woods that we had to find, along with some 'clues.' We exceeded expectations by copmleting the course with the other 12 riders in only an hour. We brought Blaze and Mackie as our mounts, and although Mackie put on a 'rodeo' complete with bucks, rears, and refusals, Blaze ROCKED. At the beginning I has a lot of people comment on her high-strung attitude, but it didn't phase either of us. She mowed down briars, jumped creeks, and led the way for the most part. I really felt like she was completely trusting me.