Today we went out for a fairly long (for us) trail ride. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. We received a little cold rain yesterday, and that helped green things up some. But today was in the low 60s with a bright, blue sky.
As soon as I hopped on Bear I knew he was feeling good. Actually, I thought he was feeling good earlier, but sometimes he feels better when we’re doing stuff on the ground than he does under saddle. Not today. He was soft and attentive and just felt strong. As we walked down the drainage and over to the second strip he was walking faster than I’ve ever felt him go. It was really fun, especially since he was also very relaxed. Usually when we’re walking on the trails I’m practicing keeping his walk lively. It doesn’t help that we have to keep up with Steen, who is a really fast walker. But today we spent a good portion of the ride even out-walking Steen.
This week we have not ridden a ton. They had two days off early in the week and another two days off in the end of the week. During our last few trail outings the weather has been warmer, and the guys have been somewhat worn out from long rides all week, so today it was great to see how well behaved they could be even when they felt fresh.
We walked and trotted on over to the salad bowl and then spent some time working. I also had the camera in my pocket, so I hopped off to snap a few shots of Robin before handing the camera off to her. We got a lot of great shots.
I always have fun watching Robin ride. She was doing so well even Bear was interested.
His interest only lasted so long; it is hard to pass up the grass in the salad bowl.
We calmed down with a few short serpentines and whirly-gigs and then walked home. He wasn’t walking quite as fast on the way home, but it was still significantly faster than his normal walk.
When we got back to the strip Robin and I each took a turn doing a little loping. It is nice to take advantage of their slightly tired state, and we also like the idea of reminding them that they still have to work and pay attention even when we get home. Bear and I started off with some decent lopes to the left. He was trying to get out of it a few times, but eventually I got to where he would keep going in a soft manner.
Going to the right was different. It was amazing. Right is our bad direction, but today we had the best loping to the right I’ve ever felt. He never tried to drop it, and he was very soft to my legs guiding him into a larger oval or a smaller circle. We didn’t do much, because I wanted to end on that great note.