Hot, but great, trail rides

We had some great trail rides this weekend. I got out to the barn a little late on Friday since I had to water my brother’s garden. (they were on vacation..) I took Cruiser for a quick trail ride, and just turned Cole out to play. He ran and ran long enough to be nearly dripping in sweat, so I then took him for a walk to the river.


Saturday, my sister and I took Cruiser and Ranger out for a very pleasant ride. I rode Cole by himself. We did a bunch of trotting to the second river, and met my sister on the way back. I decided to attempt a canter, again. I haven’t had any luck in the arena. Last fall, I was able to canter him when we played “target my sister.” I decided to approach it that way, again. it took a number of attempts to get the canter, but when I got it, it was glorious. Last fall, he was fast, unbalanced and all over the place. Since I had only been riding him a short time at that point, that wasn’t a surprise. This time, he was even, balanced and went at a reasonable speed. We tried it a number of times—sometimes getting it, sometimes not. Finally, my sister said we should do it just one more time. She walked up the trail and waited for us. We never got better than a trot. When we reached her, she moved over to the side and started jogging with us. She then simulated the canter—and we were off! I left her and kept going. I was going to stop after a short distance, but decided not to since it was so nice. We went about a thousand feet. I asked for a trot, got it, clicked and we were done for the day.

Sunday is the day we take Ranger and Cole up to the show ring trails. Last week, we worked on trotting alongside. That was our plan this week, but Cole decided he didn’t need to get up to Ranger. He was happy to follow 10 feet behind. We did a lot of trotting and clicking. We only stopped for things like rough trails and sharp corners. We even did a little trotting towards home. I led him down the big hill, and he did his silly circus walk for me. we then went further down the trail a short ways and crossed a new river. He went across great, but he was hesitant to step back in to go home. I’m not sure what startled him, there, but once Ranger was out of sight, he got brave and stepped in.

I rode him down the short, steep hill, again, and he did his circus walk, again. He is so silly, but at least I can control his speed. It was a terrific ride.

I then took Cruiser out for 5 miles and met Starry on the way home.

Tonight, there is a chance for storms, so I’m not sure what will transpire.