Hi Sweetie!
Once again we had rain overnight, but by morning it started to clear out. I spent some time putting a few things away this morning, since I’ve decided to leave for my next stop tomorrow, for only one night, then on to Hungerford so Sandy can finally meet up with her horse. Once those chores were done, I saddled up Coco/Scarlett with my western saddle with a big thick pad, and tried her out with that old bitless bridle you used to use on Clio, but she didn’t respond very well to that, too much energy, so I ended up putting Flash’s bridle on her since it would be the nearest fit I had. I moved her around a bit in camp before heading out on the trail. Normally I would want to do some ground work a horse before riding, but I’ve run out of time for that, and I do want to get at least one ride on her before I turn her over to Sandy. She has a lot of energy, just like Flash did when we first got him, but that will settle down once she gets a lot more riding on her. It took her awhile to start listening to me, but eventually I was able to keep her in a nice gait, equivalent to a fast walk, which was very nice and smooth. One step up from that, however, is a whole other story! She gets very choppy, worse than a quarter horse trot, in my opinion. My stirrups are a bit long to be posting, so I was bouncing all over the place once she hit that speed. I kept slowing her down to her slow gait or a walk, which she does just fine. On one hill, we even did a decent canter, which was okay, not as smooth as Flash’s, but not too bad. We did a lot of fields at first, just getting acquainted, but eventually I took her on to some of the single track dirt trails, she did a great job of following the trail (unlike Flash when I first got him, he’d go straight no matter where the trail was going, even if it was off into the woods!), had no trouble with creek crossings, and was pretty sure-footed going up and down hills, though he kept wanting to go a bit faster than I would like through the woods. Good thing there aren’t many knee-knockers on these narrow trails! It was a good ride, though, seven miles in two hours, and by the end we had reached an understanding, which is all you can ask for on a first (and probably, only) ride. She settled down nicely once she ran some of the energy off, and she seemed to start listening a bit better. Sandy had better be prepared to do a lot of riding to burn off some of that energy and get here settled down! Like Flash, she’s not the kind of horse you can just pull out of the pasture after a couple of months and ride safely. She should make a nice horse though, very sturdy, didn’t have any heat or swelling anywhere afterwards. I do have one concern, and that is that she doesn’t seem to lift her tail to poop, she tends to squat instead. Never seen that before. She also a bit sensitive about her hindquarters, not really physically sensitive when I try to prod it, but skittish when you first approach it. Don’t know if it’s just behavioral or physical, will need further examination by someone with more knowledge than me! Anyway, after we got back I rinsed her down and let her eat some clover for awhile while I did some more prep work for our departure tomorrow, in between reading and resting. Finally settled down for the evening, just in time for the rain to come in, perfect timing again! Had my shower, so now I’m heading to bed, going to try to get an early start in the morning. They have a dump here at Middle Fork, so I’m going to do all that in the morning, but everything else except the horse stuff is packed. That said, I’ll say good night, babe! Love you!
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