Work That Horse Booty

I had a stinking amazing ride on Saturday. Mom and I hopped on while Shalom was eating in the pasture so he wouldn't be stressed, he's typically fine with them leaving after a little while but he's always better when he has food to focus on so might as well get him eating. We went towards some of our new trails that one of our neighbors helped clear off first to see how nice they were going to be. There was a lot of interesting footing and some big hills so they definitely aren't easy trails but they were a lot of fun with good trail horses. Spirit did really good considering how spooky he typically is and only had a green moment when we went down another hill with worse footing (lots of branches and etc) so we let Red go ahead, who has no fear at all whatsover, and he followed on. Lots of super slow walking down the hills and then jogging up them. Writing about trails is super boring I think but they were really fun although difficult at some points. Red is such a reliable trail horse so I really don't have much to say. He doesn't spook so I can't write about interesting moments like getting bucked off, etc ;)

It started getting really scary towards the end of the trails so we turned back and let them trot up the hills. I swear, Red is getting so energetic. Not in a bad way at all, because he'll slow down when he needs to, but he definitely doesn't refuse much anymore when it comes to work. I love having him so game for everything. We went up to the hay field and let them lope up the hill then walk around slowly towards some more places that had been cleared and went to another trail that our Farrier had actually cleared off with his 4-wheeler when he came out to hunt. That trail was a lot hairier than the first but the horses did really great. There was a lot of holes and branches to watch out for so we did a lot of watching the ground (totally not recommended but when you have a huge horse like mine, even if he's a stellar trail horse, you've gotta watch for him a little lol!) and once we were done we went back to the hay field to let them canter. The original plan was - trot up the hill leading to the field and jog, but that turned into a "Meh, let's let them gallop." and woah. I basically just let Red know he could go if he wanted to (normally I'd give him more rules on how fast I want to go but he was doing amazing and getting tired) and geeze, I don't think we've ever gone that fast before. He just took off and it took me by surprise so I woah'd him and he stopped on a dime and slowed to a nice walk while Spirit was cantering until I could get my grip back and then I let him try it again and man, that's fun. My adrenaline was pumping, haha.

Twerk that booty.

We let them have one more lap and then walked back down to the barn. My sister and her kids had gotten there so the kiddos wanted to ride Red and I didn't want him so exhausted that he'd be miserable. I did manage to get a bit of jogging and extended trot work in at the end. Can we please just...gah. Look at that booty.

Extended trot.

My seat isn't perfect (leaning too far back, relying on my pelvic bone too much, stirrups are wonky and need to be fixed so my one heel is having issues) but I will defend myself a little because by the end of this ride when the photos were taken, I was starving and my legs felt like jelly. I haven't ridden that hard or long in awhile, lol!

 

I do have videos to show his jog as well when he's not extending (imagine that, Red listening to a cue. What is life) but I'm really video challenged so I'm going to attempt to upload them onto Youtube and etc. We shall see if I can manage. I'm really pumped with Red. I know I've done nothing but brag in the past couple of weeks (since he's been home, really.) but he's doing so great right now. His trot has improved drastically and he's collecting himself so much better.

Oh, and also, in these photos we see evidence that my mother got back on Red for the first time in forever. Let's all remember why she wouldn't ride him. Bad. Trot. But woot woot, she got back on!

Spurs stressed him so mom literally did all sorts of funky things with her legs so they didn't touch him. I have a wimpy horse.

Nephew #2 and mom.

 

Nephew #1

 

And the best couple ever because let's face it, I'm prideful -