Trail Ride

   Monday was a trail ride day!  I grabbed my pretty girl out of her stall and brushed her down really quick so we had time for a short trail ride.  I rode Western and this time I put on her Western bridle with the shanked snaffle so I could have control out out on the trail.  We headed off of the property and this time we went to the left, down towards the road that leads us to the ranch (away from the dunes and our usual trail ride spot).

Phoenix's only white spot on her left foreleg

  Phoenix did better than normal at the whole barn sour thing, so she continued to stop and be a butt about leaving, but it wasn't as bad as normal and I could get her to move mostly off of leg rather than having to smack her in the butt with the end of her reins.  She did well with the trees and dogs, but we did encounter a slight problem near the end of the road.  

   There is this horse way out at the back of this property right next to the road.  This horse is in like a chain link fenced area and when Phoenix and I were walking down the street, the horses started acting as if they were long lost buds or something.  They were neighing to each other and the horse ran around it's enclosure like they wanted to get out to play.  Phoenix refused to go farther down the street and kept spiining and backing up.  She really wanted to go over to the horse and since I wasn't getting anywhere in the saddle, I resorted to hopping off and leading Phoenix down the rest of the road and across the busy street.  

   Now we had orchards on the left and a big cleared out field on the right, so I re-mounted my girl (it took a few tries cause she kept spinning) and we headed down canal systems and side roads.  I stuck to walking and trotting Phoenix for a good portion of our ride because she still doesn't deal with new things in the best way and I wanted to be able to easily gain control if something should spook her.  I tried guiding her by neck reining but that only worked with her at a walk, so I ended up direct reining my girl, but I had to keep the reins a little loser than normal and remember to not keep too much contact because of the shanks.  Phoenix was pretty good at reminding me if I was on her mouth too much by bobbing her head up and down.  

   We rode around for an hour and a half before we started heading back.  If I thought Phoenix was a kind of motivated to move out before, when we started heading back down our trail, she was practically pulling at the bit (don't you just love barn sour horses).  I let her trot and once she started listening better, I let her out into a lope for a good mile or so.  I had to keep checking Phoenix, but she listened very well and I felt confident.  

   Then of course this flock of birds all of a sudden jumped out of the wheat field next to us and spooked Phoenix.  She didn't buck or rear or bolt off or anything, but she did jump a little and then spin off to the left.  Of course there was a canal on our left so Phoenix spun to a stop so she didn't fall in and I lost one stirrup and almost fell off due to being caught off guard.  We recomposed ourselves and I walked Phoenix for a minute or so and then we continued on.  

   I was a little nervous at first for fear that she would do it again, especially because now everytime birds were moving at all Phoenix was super tuned into them and slightly jumpy.  Then I realized that she was never going to relax if I had such a hold on her and I forced myself to breath and act like nothing had spooked either of us.  Phoenix did chill out and I just need to gain more confidence with her because if anything tests our trust or shakes our confidence, I stay pretty tense of my girl.  But that isn't fun for either of us and I need to learn to just deal with the problem ane continue on as if nothing had happened.  

   I loped Phoenix down the empty field and pulled her to a walk so we could wait for the busy road to clear up for us to cross.  We had to wait for a few minutes, which Phoenix only tried to start walking once, and then we walked across the road and I made Phoenix (who knew we were by home now) walk down the dirt road back to 45.  

    I hosed Phoenix off really good and left her to dry out while I replaced our nylon billet strap with a leather one because our old one was starting to get very worn out.  I also went through our bin of random crap and threw away all of our broken stuff that couldn't be used anymore.  By then my dad had arrived, so I loaded the bin into his car (we are moving in 2 weeks so I took home everything but our saddles, bridles, brushed, and boots) and put my girl away.