That’s my boy! Had a great ride in the arena yesterday, should have seen our trot. We were strong, and forward! Our canter maybe left a bit to be desired, but we got both leads. He was so good! We left the arena to walk around out in the yard and cool down, and the trail to the back beckoned. Before I could think too hard about it, we were heading down the trail. We’ve been back there before with Youpi and Steph, and with Brian and his horse, so it wasn’t new. But we’ve never hacked on our own before. We followed the trails, splashed through some pretty big puddles, stopped a few times to ponder life, but we did it! No spooks, no problems, just a straightforward Bailey-and-me hack in the back. I didn’t stop to think if it was stupid or careless on my part, I just decided to trust that he would be my sensible boy. And he was.
Today, we had another ride in the ‘hunter’ ring, and then we went on another hack with Brian and the horse he now rides, Humphrey. (Unfortunately, Tommy is retired due to a medical condition.) Humphrey tends to be a little spooky at times, so when he jumped, so did Bailey. Lucky for me, Bailey never seemed to ask how high, more like WTF? And then he’d realize Humphrey was being a goose, and he’d settle right back down. I see a lot more hacking in our future. We will be out there all winter, keeping those trails packed down, and enjoying the ride!
