Monday, January 9, 2012

Off-Farm Trail Ride and Upcoming Events. . .


On Saturday afternoon, Jenny decided short-notice to go for a trail ride on a set of pathways in town, and invited Daisy and I along. . . We were too happy to oblige :) 
Daisy walked right on the trailer, no fuss (as usual) and proceeded to get down to the business of emptying the hay manger. 

We arrived tacked and were surprised to find it very windy in town. . . luckily it seemed to die away, or maybe we just didn't notice, as we headed down the trail, with Jenny on her newly-acquired mare, Jolee. 
 The pathways go for about 20 miles I think and connect all the way through our county. As a kid, I spent a lot of time walking and biking the trails closest to home. We parked at the county fair grounds where Daisy and I show in summer and crossed the street to a trail opening. 


We rode until we reached a bridge with a tricky, small opening at the other side, and decided to turn around. That section took us probably an hour and a half or so (. . . This is a rough estimate, I never really kept track of time. . . ). Daisy was thrilled to be out and about on new land! She had a real perk in her step, her ears were forward the whole time and she swung her head side to side to check out the sights. So cute! I love when she's happy; it makes the ride so much more enjoyable. I can't wait until one day when I have my own trailer and the ability to drive it and can take her places.  Something to look forward to :) 
We headed back and continued in the other direction past the trailers so we could reach this big bridge a short distance away. 

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the bridge is high up! Neither of the two horses wanted to cross it, but I didn't want to give up, so I got off Daisy and after a few minutes of coaxing her and praising her for every step toward the bridge, I got her to get one hoof on it. Once we got that first hoof on, her fear was gone and she was fine with it. Jolee followed suit. It was so cool to be on that big bridge over the water with the horses! I walked her across and re-mounted on the other side. We headed back over the bridge, back to the trailers. 
We mostly walked for the ride, with a little trot and canter. I had such a good time! Daisy and I needed that off-farm activity :) 

And we have more coming our way! 

Wednesday is our first step in the direction of fulfilling one of our goals for 2012. . . we. . . are going. . . .

Team penning!!!
Actually it's team penning practice, but. . . yey!
Daisy is afraid of cows. But I think once she has a few minutes to warm up to the situation (ok . . . maybe a bit more than a few minutes) she'll be fine about it. 

I'll let y'all know how it goes. 

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