New experiences

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, being busy and under the weather have put me a little behind.

For the latest news: Coriander went on his first group trail ride Friday and was nearly perfect in every way! Really, I could not be more proud of that horse right now.

The stable next door where I've been taking my lessons does a group trail ride every Friday night and they invited me along. Last Friday I strapped on Coriander's Easyboot Gloves and off we went.

There were seven other horses that went on the ride, I was really worried that my boy would be upset with so many strange horses around, but I buddied him up to a steady-eddy draft mare first thing and her calmness seemed to wear off on him, he didn't spook once on the whole ride. He did pull some nasty faces when the horse behind him ran up on his bum a little, but I can't blame him for that. I'd pull a nasty face for that too.

We went up and down more hills than he's seen in his whole life up to this point and he took them like a champ. I told him at the beginning of the ride that I wanted him to walk the hills and for the most part he kept himself at that pace. Even when the horses around him were trotting or cantering up the hills he walked, good boy!

He even had his first water crossing, the only rough point on the ride. It was just a little stream, only about two feet wide, but he didn't want to do it. After I had walked him up to it a couple times and gently asked him to cross with no progress, I was just getting ready to dismount and lead him across when I found out that Beth (my new trainer) had already beaten me to it. She took hold of his bridle, and with her help he very calmly walked through the water and got tons of praise. He then went over the next stream no problem, there wasn't as much water in that one but I'm still pretty proud. (How great is my new trainer?)

This is a little random, but I always ate the most fantastic peach during the ride. Straight off the tree, perfectly ripe and full of juice- it melted in my mouth. Yum! Poor Coriander got peach juice all over his shoulder but it was worth it.

The only part of the ride where he acted like a greenie was at the very end when the stable came back into view. Then he started jigging and calling and acting a little silly. But I forgive him for that since he was so fantastic for the rest of the ride. Now I can't wait for next Friday to come along so we can do it again.