Trail riding blues

Because it was rather warm upstairs after yesterdays nice weather, I slept with the windows open. I woke up about 5:00 a.m. to birdsong. Once my foggy brain registered that it was Saturday, I pulled the comforter up from the foot of the bed and snuggled in next to hubby for a couple more hours sleep. It was so nice to wake up to the sunshine yet another day! We decided to walk to Starbucks for our morning coffee and to take the dog with us. Let me tell ya, she was jumping for joy! After a decaf, skinny, cinnamon dolce latte and a cinnamon scone, we walked back home, changed clothes and headed out to the barn.

This nice weather is aggravating my trail riding bug. A friend from my barn invited me to go along with her and some other friends for a trail ride Monday afternoon. She said they needed some tried and true trail horses along. I think there are some greenies that need to go out. Well...Boo is not the tried and true trail horse that he ought to be at 20 years old. Instead he is the type of horse who will take his cues from the greenies around him. If they want a tried and true they need hubby and his horse Bay. Today hubby took Boo out on the ride we are suppose to go on Monday. Sarah rode Bay. I stayed back at the barn to man the phone for the 911 phone call that might be required.

Everyone came back in one piece, but I think hubby may have a new found respect for why I am rather nervous about going out on the trail although I long too. Boo can be a very stubborn boy. He especially hates marshy or muddy ground. Today he didn't want to go into the high grass and he didn't want to cross the marshy ground, and he didn't want to stop jigging if Bay got to far in front of him. He ended up going through the marshy ground and into the high grass with hubby leading him there ( I refused to let hubby wear his cowboy spurs). Better that then not going at all. I watched as Mick tried to go forwards, then tried to sidepass and then tried to back him through. The backing almost worked. Finally he got off, led him through, and got back on. I asked him later on if he thought the spurs might have helped and he told me he wasn't sure. They might have, but then again, when Boo goes into his "I am afraid and I'm not going there" brain, the spurs might have just made him panic more.

The jigging was on the way back. He's always done that when other horses get to far in front of him. Especially if he is the last one in line. As a matter of fact, he hates being the last one in line. I don't know who told him the lion eats the last horse in line, but someone obviously did. Mick worked with him on the jigging by just making him stop when he jigged. They'd walk a few steps, Boo would start to jig, and hubby would stop him again. They did that all the way back to the barn. Hopefully, he'll get over that by the end of the summer. At least he was stopping when asked. I guess it could be worse.

I wish I had taken some pictures of them, but the camera was locked in the truck and the keys were in Mick's pocket, so maybe tomorrow.