Perfection (almost)

Today was one of those glorious days that makes me grateful to have a hobby where I can enjoy nature. The air was clean, the sky was clear and the temps were in the upper 60s. It was perfect! Since I hopefully will be going to a show in two weeks with The Mare (I have given up pretty much any hope that I will actually get into a show ring this year) I didn’t want to blow off ring work completely. Since I have not been able to locate the owners of the property next to TM  I don’t have access to the trails by the farm.

Do you have any idea how tempting it is to see trails but not be able to use them?!?! Every time I think about being a rebel and riding over I remind myself of the universal rules and I keep myself on the correct side of the gate. I don’t want to do anything to annoy them or be disrespectful, but I am really hoping that they will be around someday soon so I can talk to them. Anyway…

Knowing that I wanted to ride around I corralled all the horses into smaller sections of their turnout. Normally all the horses have access to multiple fields but since I wanted to ride they had to make do with just one for a little while. It took a little doing to get the 5 horses moved to where I wanted them to go, but even that was an enjoyable chore in the nice weather. After a nice grooming and tacking up I decided to warm up by walking around the fields.

The Mare was mellow and not in the mood to work so wandering around on the buckle suited her just fine. After a long while I brought her in to the ring and set about working. I know she has a LONG way to go, but she really has made a lot of progress over the past few months! We did a solid 45 minutes of work before I felt like we could stop and head back out in to the fields.

This time The Mare was a little amped, but I didn’t mind. She was listening when I asked her the important things so I didn’t want to fuss and ruin our mini trail ride. I had such issues when I first started riding her getting her stop and listen, especially outside the ring, that I wanted to keep this a positive experience. As we went down the hill to the mini creek she wanted to run off. She even jumped the stupid little ditch, but when I said “whoa” she came back.

I was so proud. I mean, she was acting like a total trail horse. My grin was huge as we went to the next field. I felt so confident in TM that when we got to the next field I took my cell phone out to take a picture and show off my little trail pony. Just after I snapped that picture TM showed me that she is not exactly a trail pony yet. She SPOOKED!! She rarely spooks ever…and it was a big spook. With one hand on the reins and the other on my cell phone it took some doing to get her back, but the cool thing is that I did get her back.

It might not have been the perfect trail ride through the hills and open country, but I am going to give my ride today an almost perfect. Sure, we just walked around the farm, but TM is learning! Knowing that she is getting better made the whole ride seem like heaven to me!

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