I was a bit apprehensive about taking her on a trail ride since she's only ever been ridden on a race track and outdoor arena, but a couple friends were trailering their horses to one so I figured I might as well just get 'er done.
And as it turned out Pete was a rock star and acted as though she'd been a trail horse all her life. She went through water, mud, over logs, under low branches, she even jumped a nicely placed 'water feature'. We rode right along side the river, rode up and down hills (she actually looked at the hills oddly as her ground has only ever been very flat) saw donkeys, goats and cows, and had to ride with her first ever 'field' of horses since her racing days a few months ago and not race them.
I was a proud momma.
She's also used to trailering in a trailer that has a ramp to walk up in, has really high head clearance, and is quite big and open inside. This trailer was none of those. Putting her in on the way to the ride was a 15 minute struggle, but coming back she walked right in.
I was sure the poncho was going to cause some spookiness, but it wasn't an issue (a sombrero would have been more appropriate).
I've never been to a poker rally, or really knew what one was, but after playing 4 hands (proceeds to CF) I won a 'headstall' (that's a bridle in the western language).
There were about 30 people. I guess on some of these rides (there's one almost every weekend) there are close to 100. And sometimes you get a bunch of people riding with their flasks and running their horses all over the place stirring up all the other horses. This group of people were all well-mannered and polite to the other riders. And the scenery was beautiful, the trails nice to ride on, and the distance (12 miles) was worth trailering to (the trail ride was a bit north of Rosthern).
This concerned me a bit, but thankfully there were no sightings.
So, after a very successful first trail ride I'm in no hurry to sell my girl (I sold the other horse a couple weeks ago). I'm really excited to go on a few more of these rides before winter sets in, and then hopefully more in the spring thru next fall. I think Vin would really enjoy going on one of these as well, so we'll have to set him up with one of Kristin's trusty horses and bring him along one of these times.
