Trail Ride!

** Pictures have been reposted.  Comment if there are more viewing problems.  Not sure why that happened. **

Quick Updates:

1. Thrush is essentially gone.  Some lingering moments of it in the rear, but I think we're out of that danger zone we were in with the RF. **I spoke too soon.  Another cavern in his RH.**
2. The grain transition went smoothly.  Thankfully that horse has proven to be pretty sturdy of gut, limb, and wind.  Knock on wood...  And I no longer have to haul my own grain so that's a nice bonus.  I'll keep you posted of any noticeable long-term effects of the change.
3. The mold has stayed off of the tack I treated with Leather Therapy Wash (WIN) but the box is showing signs of it again (FAIL) so another round of bleach-water will be happening today.  The humidity is going down so hopefully we'll be done with it soon. Hope.
4. My camera is malfunctioning.  I don't recommend dropping it lens first into the arena footing.  I do recommend the "accidental damage" warranty on anything you'll be using around horses.  So you must settle for iphone pictures until Best Buy makes good on that warranty.

And now we return to your regularly scheduled post:

On Tuesday we checked off one of our Equilutions for 2011.  We trailered to a local park and did our very first "real" trail riding!  Brenda and her horse Zip trailered us and Steve (another boarder) brought his adorable paint gelding, Skip.

Thankfully we have no fun stories to tell as everything went relatively smooth.  The only minor mishaps were caused by me.  Surprise.  I tried to use a head bumper on my rope halter but it was hard to get it to fit correctly and Junior managed to slip the halter while he was in the trailer.  I had to unload him with just a rope around his neck since I couldn't get it back on inside the trailer from his off side.  It took me a bit of maneuvering to put it back on while he nervously attacked the grass, but we managed.

In the unloading process he stepped on and pulled out a small chunk of his tail.  Not enough to notice, but enough to make me sad, and I have plans for it.

Once I got him tied to the trailer where the couldn't see the other two horses he started yelling but that's normal for him.

We got tacked up and I worked him for a minute in the little ring they have just to make sure he was listening and that the buttons were sill functioning.

We headed out.

He actually prefers to lead, which I find contradictory to his nervousness but he likes to set the pace and if the horse in front is too slow he'll be in his lap if I'm not constantly pulling him back.  So the lead is actually less stressful for us both.

There was one odd looking brush pile he didn't want to get closer to but it was easy to convince him to keep moving.  Once Steve and Skip got too far ahead and I had to have a bit of an argument about who gets to decide the pace but I won pretty easily.

He took a good long while before he totally relaxed and dropped his head along the grassier area, but I am very pleased with how well he did with the amount of wooded sections.  There were snorts and blows and tension, but such a huge improvement from his complete refusal to go into the woods at last fall's Cowboy Challenge.

It was a wonderful way to spend the last weekday I was on summer break.  Now it's back to teaching and designing and advising and committee meetings and less lazy riding days. :(

We really need to spend a day loading and unloading.  He wasn't great when I got him but KAT had a come-to-jesus moment with him and he was fine up until May when he scared himself by bumping the butt bar on his way in and he's been a turkey ever since.  He was better loading to go home but he was pushing against the butt bar really hard in anticipation of getting out.  He listened to me and quit so I could get the bar undone safely and he came out relatively calmly.  Just like everything else with this boy, we need mileage.