In which Red saves my butt from scary trails.

Mom and I took advantage of the 60 degree day(!!!) today and tacked up for the first time in 3+ weeks.We were planning a really simple ride but it ended up changing pretty quickly. I tried the australian saddle on Red first but it didn't fit well...the flaps were digging into his sides and looked too long. Since I didn't have time to fool with things, I just fixed my other saddle back up after grooming quickly then hopped on. At first we rode around the front, just walking around. Mom decided to try the Dr. Cook bitless bridle on Spirit because he keeps fighting the bit when she goes to put it in and we wanted to take things slow while he's getting used to such a big change. A few people pulled over when they saw us and two neighbors said hello, I love how the horses attract everyone, haha. We went down to the lower pasture next where the horses used to be all the time and let them do some trotting. They were definitely both fresh today but they didn't push it too much. Our neighbor came by again afterwards (he and his wife own the Arabian next door) and let us go ride around at his place. They have better trails than we do so we were interested to see how they were. Crossing the road was easy but the trails turned out being quite rougher than I imagined. Mom repeatedly reminded me that my horse isn't nervous at all and it obviously 100% fine and steady and that I was the only one nervous, haha. We made it out alive (baha) and ended up in a beautiful hilly pasture.

Trails are quite boring to write about, but I swear it was interesting, lol. It was definitely a big test for me on how brave I'm wiling to be (the trails weren't terrible and they were quite clear, but rougher than what I'm used to and there were a lot of steep hills and etc) and how much I can trust my horse. Red was perfect while I forced him to go at a ridiculously slow pace. It was definitely worth continuing on even while I tried not freaking, haha. The pasture was gorgeous and you could see our whole farm from the hill.

Taking photos while Red finishes...um..doing his thang. Yuck. ;)

Posing in the field!

We went back down the hill then crossed back home to the farm after one more lap around another trail. They were definitely happy to be home after a pretty tiring ride. They went through a lot of hills so they got quite a work out. Granted, being sleepy didn't keep them from trying to bolt towards the barn when GASP FOOD OHMYGOSH I SEE THE FOOD!!!!!! A quick circle around a tree made them realize, "Oh shoot, if I bolt, I have to wait longer for food. Dang."

We also crossed back into the lower pasture again for a moment and they weren't too pleased about going away from the barn, but once they went through, they didn't mind.

love the view.

Then we let the ponies go back home. Red and I got to wait for a moment while mom finished up the grain so we didn't have to deal with two horses eagerly trying to get feed ;)

Untacking.

Red also proved that he doesn't always look like a mule ;) I think this is one of my favorite pictures of us. :)

 His legs are getting soooo dark.

Going to go out for a huge grooming session tomorrow and cleaning up our tack. Farrier should be out this week, he's late because of everything with Shalom last week. Riding as soon as I get another chance. :) Maybe tomorrow.