5 mile trail ride on Sage --- Curly Get-together was awesome!

First of all, as everyone else has been saying, it was absolutely wonderful to meet so many Curly horse people at Betsy's Get-together two weekends ago. It was a rare gift to get to chat with so many people who have known the breed for a lot longer than I have and I enjoyed meeting people face to face after years of chatting through email.

Second of all, Sage and I got to do the 5 mile loop around the barn! I've known for a long time that this trail existed, but getting permission from the land owners to ride on the land (after promising not to mess it up for the bikers who go through there) took some time, and then more time went by before my stepfather was free to show us where to go, as there are many, many forks in the road.







We had so much fun!! Sage has been mildly scared of bikes for awhile now, so we played the 'leapfrog' game, where I would trot Sage past the bike and out in front, and then my step-dad would pedal harder and surge past us. (He was a real trooper for escorting Sage and I for 5 miles.)

I've decided the key to a good trail ride is knowing both your bug spray, and your horse's. And remembering to saturate everywhere on your horse except where his saddle goes. We had no bug problems on this ride, which was so nice.

By the end of the ride Sage was quite eager to be keeping up with my stepfather on the bike. He has a very super-fast trot that only comes out on the trail but boy can he cover some ground! I could tell from his pricked ears and energy levels that Sage was having a blast exploring new trails.

Last week we did a trail ride down the one road close to us that we hadn't explored yet, and Sage did great. We rode by strange horses, faced a barking dog and a UPS truck at the same time, rode by scary real estate signs and flapping political signs (vote for XYZ!!), and Sage was fine with all of it.

Until we got to the bottom of the road and he saw the cows.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Sage saw cows a few years ago at the State Fair and i was able to lead him past them just fine. But 7 or 8 calves all running around about to get their hay totally blew his mind. I have *never* felt my horse tremble before! And I think that was as close to a bolting attempt as I've ever seen him attempt!

Oh well, I guess no horse is perfect. :) (But I think Sage is close.)

So we have some more work to do with the cows.

But the weather for tomorrow night is looking pretty good, so maybe we'll have a chance to go visit the cows then...

Josie is continuing to do well with groundwork, but has been moody for a few days. My very well-intentioned stepfather was left in charge of the horses one day and spent an hour and a half getting Josie's fly mask on. I think his unskilled attempt upset her as she was a bit cranky for the next few days. Luckily she does forgive, even if she doesn't forget, and with a little effort on my part she's happy to have us put her fly mask on again. Now to continue with other things!





The thing that makes me happiest with Josie these days is how friendly she is in the pasture. Always hopeful I'm out there to fetch her and teach her something new...



Onward and upward. :)