I went for a trail ride today, and it was great. Rocky was ready to go down the trail, and Bear trotted along faithfully behind us. Rocky was very interested in trying to graze along the trail, or snatching quick mouthfuls of greens, but otherwise he did exactly as I asked. We trotted down a length of fenceline and made it through a knee-knocking section of the trail (weaving between trees) without incident. I was going to take him up a hill and around the top, but I stopped to flex him a bit and noticed a little rabbit about 30 yards up the trail. It was right in the middle of the trail, frozen in place and hoping we didn't see it. Bear walked around sniffing things and waiting for us to continue. I decided to let the bunny have the trail and start heading for home. I was lucky, it started to rain while I was tacking Rocky up and it stopped in time for us to head out for the ride. I didn't want to end up at the far end of the trail if it started to pour- my poor leather saddle!
We trotted up a gravelly, sandy hill and out to the open. Here there was a fence line along the back of some pastures, nice even ground for cantering. I have been wanting to canter along the fence here, up a bit of a hill, and then along the next pasture. Today, we did it! I circled Rocky in a grassy area at a trot and then a canter, making sure that he was listening to me.
He wanted to canter back but he listened right away to my cues, so I let him canter. He was a little fast at first, and I reminded myself to keep riding him; don't freeze up. We made it up the hill and he started to slow, flicking his ears and asking if I wanted to trot. I nudged him on and he gave me a lovely canter down the rest of the fence. I turned him around and cantered back down the line, then walked down the hill to the start. We turned around again, and cantered the whole way back down the fence! I must have had the biggest smile on my face- I felt confident and he was with me all the way. I love my horse!
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