Because Ranae was out of town last weekend and didn't ride Tuesday night, our last three rides have been by ourselves. I did wear my spurs and she did ride out quite nicely. The only spur action she got was when she wanted to bail off the side of the trail and luckily that wasn't very often.
It's been hot here. Close to the 100's. We did some trotting and worked on transitions for trot to walk. On Saturday, we were riding along the canal. We had a chain link fence on one side with a dog barking just on the other side of the fence. Coming along side of us was a quad with two riders on it. Jessie stood perfectly still and, cautious, but relaxed. I was very proud of her.
On Sunday, we went out along the canal, crossed over to the other side and headed back. I wanted to ride a little longer so I turned her away from home and we trotted in between two unplanted fields that had gone to the weeds. When it came time to turn for home I decided to cross one of the fields. The ground was uneven and the weeds were knee high in parts. I worked our way over to what looked like a good road to head back on and then....da da donnnnnn... A discarded horse-eating mattress appeared out of nowhere. The wind was blowing and the mattress had a tear in it and the loose fabric was flopping around. On the far side of the mattress was the road and it had a bit of washboard in the asphalt so as the cars went down the road there was a scary sound.
This was one of the first times I can remember Jessie being frightened of something where we had some room to work. We trotted back and forth turning into the monster and when she looked like she wanted to check it out I backed her away from it. We went over to the other side. She jumped at one point when the wind and the cars coordinated their attack to make both motion and sound at the same time. We worked back and forth for five minutes or so. She was getting closer and closer and more relaxed. I hated to move on, this was such a good experience for her. After she walked right up to it and tried to take a bite out of it, I thought it best to turn for home.
Tuesday's ride was very similar except that we were a little pressed for time so we trotted most of the way. It's about a three mile loop. Heading for home on the far side of the canal we worked on transitions from trot to walk. They were a bit ragged.
It was nice to get a weeknight ride in. We will ride again tonight (Thursday). I love summer.
2 comments:
Glad you are getting some rides in. Sounds like Jessie should be in good enough shape to do an endurance ride!
Yes, she seems quite fit, although I don't have much to compare. We got to ride last night. Got back in about 8pm. A nice little jog. ;>)
Post a Comment