West Wetlands Adventure

   Today I had the awesome opportunity to take Phoenix on a trail ride and mini river adventure at the West Wetlands Park.  I started out by prepping everything at the ranch.  I took my girl out and groomed her down and got the tack I was taking out.  Then Phoenix and I waited for Melissa to arrived and hung out with Maddie, who is super fun and never there at the same time as me.

Patiently waiting (for once)

Maddi and I 

My pretty girl

Phoenix close-up

   Melissa and her mother and sister arrived shortly with their 4 horse rig and I loaded up my tack. When it was time to load Phoenix into the slant, she walked right up to the ramp and then got a little jumpy and nervous.  She isn't used to ramps, but after her fighting for a few minutes, Phoenix relaxed and joined me in the horse trailer, where I tied her up and hopped out to close the door.
   Once we got to West Wetlands, all 4 of us pulled out our horses (Phoenix kept taking big slow steps backing off the ramp, waiting for the drop that wouldn't come haha) and got them ready for our ride.  Since I had already groomed Phoenix, I just ran a quick run through over her coat again and grabbed her tack out of the trailer.  Melissa and I had fun talking and singing to the country music playing from her phone.

Lexi (Melissa's horse)

Melissa 

Melissa with Lexi

   I put Phoenix's Western saddle on, slipped on her English bridle (wanted to use her snaffle but hate switching bits so yes, I'm riding Western in an English bridle haha), and strapped on my helmet.  Michelle (Mel's sister) and Gail (their mom) also rode Western, while Melissa was the odd one out and went English (I used to prefer English over Western but I've been riding a lot more Western lately).

Phoenix and I 

All tacked up

Phoenix's eye

Ready to go

Western saddle

Me and my girl

Phoenix's bit

Waiting to go 

Half ready

Closeup

   We all mounted up and hit the trails!  We walked across the road and under a little bridge, heading down the dirt path and into the brush.  This is one of the places in Yuma that you can find tons of trees (almost resembling a mini forest) and get a break from the dunes.  All of the horses did great walking through the paths for the beginning and I began to relax on Phoenix's mouth once I realized that she was totally fine and it's a lot more fun to ride when you aren't tense.

On the trail

   The first spooky part for all of the horses was when we came to cross the road leading down to the boat dock and river.  It ended up being a water rescue practice day for the fire station and there were paramedic/firefighters everywhere, not to mention fire trucks and ambulances.  All 4 of the horses were super nervous to go by all of the scary trucks and kept inching forward and spinning back in the other direction.

   I got Phoenix the farthest, but then she stopped moving forward due to being scared of walking between a giant rock and a light pole.  Eventually, we got all of our horses past the spooky spot and we continued on the trails.  I was a tad upset that we didn't get to trot or lope at all (I usually do on trail rides if Phoenix is listening and it is a safe area) but it was fun to be riding with other people for once.  

   None of the horses spooked again for a little bit and we all relaxed and talked as we walked through the brush.  We turned onto a canal (this one was wider than the ones out in the county but the drops were super big and scary) and carried on just like usual.  The next trouble spot was a little ways down the canal.  There was this bridge that we had to go under that was scaring the horses not only due to casting a large shadow and making us ride through a dark area, but the cars driving ontop made a strange sound that echoed underneath and you never knew when they would suddenly drive over.  

   Michelle got Floyd to go under first, followed by a little bit of a spooky Lexi.  Gail's horse Sasha trotted under to get it over with and then there was Phoenix.  Though my girl was nervous, I kept leg pressure on her and got her to go under the bridge.  I started to feel better about going under it when some cars ran ontop and the noise spooked Phoenix.  She tried to spin and go back the direction we came.  I made her continue going forward but she was freaking out.  Eventually, I got her to finish out the other side and we continued on with the rest of the gang.  

   This is when we came to the park under the Ocean to Ocean's bridge.  The horses did well starting overall walking through weird sounds and tons of people, but there were a few trouble spots that spooked Lexi and Phoenix.  It was pretty cool to see all of the people look over at us and wave while all of the kids yelled "look horses" or "Caballos".  We got to the parking lot and sadly, instead of continuing on towards more trails, we turned around and started heading back. 

   We took a different canal road back (we still had to go under the bridge, but none of the horses had trouble this time) and ended up back at the park.  This is when Gail had the great idea of trying to go through the brush to get back to the trail we were previously on instead of traveling on the road.  Well that didn't end up working out haha.  This part of the trail was so overgrown that we were all getting scratched up by thorns and got caught in a dead end.  Michelle, Melissa, and I ended up dismounting our horses and leading them back out onto the road from the ground.  So we did end up taking the road back down to the river where I got the chance to play in the water with my girl.
   I only had a small amount of time to mess with Phoenix and water because I was the only one interested in water playing, but the time I had was fun and hopefully we will have more time to play in the river soon.  I started out using leg pressure to urge Phoenix into the river, but she was too nervous (it is the biggest body of water she had ever seen) so I hopped off and ended up convincing her to go in by leading her.
   Once she was in the water, Phoenix was fine and she actually tried to keep going out, but scared herself when she reached the drop off and she fell into the water that went up to her saddle pad.  I tried to mount my girl in the water so I could ride her in the river, but everytime I got on her she would walk out of the river before I was all the way on, so I settled on playing with her from the ground.
   My boots and pants were soaked, but it was cool to see Phoenix enjoying the water by splashing about and I hope to have the opportunity to build on that and work with her more in water.

In the water 

Play time

"Why am I in here mommy?"

   After our little water playtime, Phoenix and I rejoined the group and we headed back down the trail with my boots filled with water and sloshing everytime I put leg pressure on my girl haha.  There was this one spot that was a little steep and made the horses nervous because they had to go carefully down and cross a dried out mini river-like area.  There was a puddle in it, so you think Phoenix would be fine after the river but no haha.  Floyd walked easily across and Sasha was eventually urged to go join her friend.  Lexi jumped across and then ran up the other side,taking Melissa a little off guard and once again, then there's Phoenix.
   I kept leg pressure on my girl and leaned back in the saddle as she walked down the way.  I relaxed, thinking she was going to walk through the puddle and maybe try to trot up the hill, but no haha.  Phoenix jumped the whole thing and bounded up the other side.
   The horses were fine the rest of the ride and a few minutes later and we arrived at the trailer. Though not quite what I wanted to do, the ride was fun and it was nice to take my girl out and relax a little.  Also, I could talk to someone else besides Phoenix on our ride, so that was a change haha.  We all untacked and put our gear away so we could start loading horses.  

   Phoenix didn't even blink as she walked up the ramp this time and stood great while I tied her up.  I better watch out or she will be too spoiled to load into our tiny straight load haha.  When we got back to the ranch, Phoenix hopped out by turning around and walking off the ramp facing forward and I tied her up to the rail while I put our tack away.  

   Then Melissa and her family headed home and I hosed my girl off.  Phoenix wasn't really sweaty due to just walking and going into the river, but her coat could use it and we had some time to kill.  I also picked out my girl's hooves just to make sure she didn't pick up any rocks while out on our ride. When I put my girl away, of course the first thing she did was roll, caking her newly cleaned off coat with dirt.    

"I think my coat needs a little something"

They see me rollin

   After Phoenix was loose in her stall, I just hung out and watched my girl roll around and sift through the sand for hay.  It was nice getting to just hang out and pet/scratch my girl.  Btw, here is what happens when you pet a damp horse that just rolled haha.

   I rinsed my hands off in Phoenix's water bucket and took some pics of her hanging out while I waited for my dad.