Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Two Humans - One Horse = One walker

As you know, we only have one horse, Daughter and I, and that leads to one great problem. Trail Riding! Well, in our case it is Trail Riding and Walking. She rides and I hike.

Until recently Pippi has not been a great trail horse; no confidence to explore. We have gone out many times, but unless I am in front Pippi does not want to go. She would fight us to go even with other horses, unless I walked. Apparently I can save her from ANYTHING that the woods can throw at her. I am superhuman that way. Recently Pippi seems to have entered a more adult phase, she is now 6, and is growing both physically and mentally into a mare. Her filly body if "fillying out" so to speak.
Trainer and I have been after Daughter to trail ride and build her confidence, but since trail riding has been less than fun Daughter has not wanted to. Last week, due to heat the other horses were all enjoying the shade and anticipation of dinner in the barn, so all the fields were empty. There are three fields, all hilly and lush with ponds and lots of grazing grass. Pippi had only been in one of them, so I suggested Daughter take Pippi trail riding in the other two. They would be close to the barn, and it would give Pippi some new adventures. Off they went, with me trailing behind. Knowing that the geldings went in the first field seemed to make Pippi quite intent on checking it out. The trotted up the hill to the pond there, and rode around the entire field. I showed Daughter some natural jumps, and Pippi was more than happy to go for it. Next I opened the gate to the other field, and they were off riding all around that one. They crossed ditches, trotted  hills and soon Daughter decided to go out of the fields and try some actual trails.

Pippi was calm yet excited, and they walked ahead of me so I could barely see them. They entered the trail in the woods, and I followed out of sight. At the bottom was a creek and Daughter backed Pippi into in, when she initially refused. By the time I got down there, they were in the middle of the creek with cool water almost touching Pippi's belly. It was magical. (I posted a picture in a previous post.)

Well, last night I was assigned my trail mount, Flash a grey gelding, So from now on we can ride whenever we feel like it. And I can't wait! Daughter and I will be out on the trails on a regular basis now I am sure. How lucky are we that our new barn owner is so generous?

2 comments:

  1. Oh, that's great now you can have adventures too on horseback!!! Fun times are ahead!!! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do you remember the song by Queen? Flash's Theme? FLASH -- AH AH-- Savior of the Universe!! FLASH -- AH AH-- he's a miracle!
    Now he's taking you on trail rides ;) Have fun with him!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNf9rEPoc8Q

    ReplyDelete

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