First trail ride

Well, it's been so long since I posted I almost forgot my log-in information! Today I hauled down to Denise's and Bear helped Tygs with his first trail ride! Tygs was a bit confused at first, but once I started saddling he seemed to calm down a bit. Here is a picture of Tygs looking at Bear as if to say, "So you're going to take care of me, eh?"After making adjustments one last time I started to get Tygs alongside the mounting log that I drag everywhere with me. He hasn't had to have me mount from it because I've always used our front steps at home, but after a couple tries he knew what I wanted and he stood perfectly still. In this picture you can see the log underneath Tygs.

And we started down the trail. We did come to quite a few things he's never seen before, but I felt he did well with all of them. There was only one thing, a pile of logs, at first that he did stop and I could tell he was questioning whether he should walk by it or not. After that he would just stop and look at things. We didn't have as long a ride as I had hoped, because I felt he was "done." He started stopping alot and wanting to go back even though Bear was in front. After urging he did continue each time, but I just didn't want to push him. So we turned around, which his gait was steady then, but not pushy.

On the way home I thought about everything and I think he did well. It's a good hour drive to Denise's, which he's not used to trailering by himself, so that was a good experience. He did well with it, but moved around alot. Then we did a 45 minute to hour ride, which he's never gone that long. He never tried to get real pushy with me, just seeing if he could do what he thought best at that point. On the way home he was quiet, so I knew he was tired.

Unfortunately, we don't have a picture of Denise and I together. Next time!

Denise was kind enough to do a short video, so here is that!