The day started out busy, as usual, despite being a Sunday, too much work to do! After our usual Sunday blueberry pancake breakfast, I washed the small horse trailer, which SO needed it, while Hubby rode around mowing the yard. That took us both a couple of hours. After that we had a small lunch, then I saddled up Flash. Since we’re not doing dialysis today, I wanted to take Flash out for several hours, ideally on some trails, and my neighbor had cut about a mile or so through their property and had graciously agreed to let me take Flash out there to see what he would do on a trail. We headed out the driveway and down the road, and this time, he had very little problem with the yellow and black signs, but shortly after that, he started to get real antsy about something. He didn’t want to walk on the road, and kept backing up into the grass along the edge. It’s almost like yesterday he was so overwhelmed he became a robot under my guidance, and today, he was just relaxed enough to start seeing all the LITTLE things that were out to get him! It took a lot to get him to listen today, but eventually we carried on after some patient schooling. We arrived at my neighbors (just under two miles away) and headed out onto their trails. They had essentially bush-hogged a trail around their perimeter, plus added a few spokes in the circle to get back to the house. Flash got overwhelmed again pretty quickly. Seriously, this horse doesn’t know how to pass a tree without nearly panicking! Such a trail novice! Anyway, we carried on, and he was walking very fast, and gaiting whenever he could get away with it, and we went up and down grades and through the woods with his head up, his ears pricked and his eyes wide open, just waiting to be gobbled up by some horse-eating thing he was sure was around every corner! We arrived at a nice stop by a lake, but I couldn’t get him to stand still no matter what I did. We finally moved on, down a hill to a small area that was a little boggy, and he acted like he’d never been in mud at all before (maybe he hasn’t!), but we managed to get through that okay. Every time we got close to the house I would turn him around and look for another trail, just to keep up the pressure a bit. After more than an hour, he had worked up such a sweat I figured it was time to give him a rest. We stopped to talk with the neighbor for a few minutes, and when he started prancing again, I just made him go in a small circle 4 or 5 times, then when I let him off, he FINALLY agreed to stand still for a few minutes! Progress! The ride home was much more sedate, he actually put his head down and I was able to give him a loose rein for more than half the trip home, a great improvement over yesterday, thank goodness. It was a great ride, but it took a lot of energy on both our parts. I was pretty tired by the time we got home! I rinsed Flash off, and of course, the first thing he did afterward was roll in the dirt. Silly horses! Anyway, fed them, fed Lola, fed Hubby, and watched a little TV before going to bed. Another early morning tomorrow!
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