Sunday, May 1, 2011

First Indian Creek ride of 2011

What a great, great day!! Took Gem and Z, picked up Deb and Lexy, and headed west to Indian Creek. It was a cold day (about 40 degrees), but the wind was calm and the overcast skies weren't supposed to cause snow or rain. It was an easy haul over and we unloaded and got started.

I decided to start on Z and had plans to switch to Gem at the turn-around point. Gem was excited at first and really wanted to lead the trail! I thought maybe our confidence building sessions had really worked! I was proud of his attitude about the trail ride - he seemed genuinely happy to be out.

We went somewhere between 6-8 miles. I forgot my GPS, so I'm not exactly sure, but we did walk/trot and rode about 3 hours. The forest was so lovely, with snow on the ground and gray skies. The footing was good - no mud, generally, throughout the ride. I let Gem off the lead line some of the time and he made Deb and I laugh so hard with his antics. He wanted to lead the trail! He was so excited - it was taking a dog for hike. He'd trot ahead, then wait for us. He sometimes chose the middle of the two horses, but he was showing some aggression towards Lexy, so I had to clip him back to the lead line a few times.

I ended up just staying on Z the whole time, mainly because I didn't feel like moving the tack. Lazy, but I was also enjoying my Zarah mare so much. She's a pleasure to ride. Gem was having a fun time being sorta free and I decided to just keep things as they were. I was happy to get both horses exercised and could have spent hours more out in the woods.

It was a great spring ride and I look forward to many more nice, long trail rides with Gem and Z! Next time, Gem gets the saddle.

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