My husband wanted to know if I wanted to go for a ride this evening and you know I couldn't turn that down, so off we went! His horse can be a handful, but lately she's been good, but tonight she was a handful. I must say he did good being persistent that she do it his way, but it was very upsetting for Corky and consequently Corky was the "steady" one, but was not my usual ride that I'm used to with him.
Kirk wanted to go where I took my friend last Saturday, so off we started down the road. I felt like it was taking forever to get there, because Corky was taking baby steps as the leader horse because Kayla was trying to intimidate him, but Kayla didn't want to lead either. Mares sometimes! On our way we discovered a snapping turtle laying her eggs!
We continued down the road and finally came to the two-track. The footing is sand and gets better, so that was good. Kirk kept wanting to trot and canter, but I was hesitant because it's a curvy road and you never know what is coming around the next curve. Finally we came to a straight area and we started trotting, just getting ready to go into a canter and a bird flys up and wham! Both horses spook. Cork has never spooked that bad and I almost went over the front of my saddle head first, but caught myself with my hand on his neck. I know he was feeding off of Kayla's anxiety. Kirk wasn't so lucky. Kayla is infamous for spooking at birds flying up and crow hops and Kirk didn't go with her and took his first fall from his horse and he's been riding her for 3 years on and off. Pretty good, huh! I was worried he was hurt, but he got back on that horse and we continued for a little farther. Kirk was impressed that Corky was going through the big puddles, so insisted Kayla do it at least once and that did take some convincing on his part, but he finally succeeded!
The pace back home picked up, of course, and guess who we ran into on the way home?
Yup, Ms. Turtle all done with her duties and heading for the swamp. So all in all my ride on Corky was a good one, but I like my relaxed Corky much better than my Corky who has a nervous horse partner. Have a good weekend all!
Janeen and Corky from the UP of Michigan!
Well, a Learning Ride instead of a Pleasure Ride, but that's ok Janeen because I bet it widened your horizons. You and your horse get to know each other a little better on rides like that. I love the pictures of the snapping turtle. I'm so glad your husband was ok after getting dumped. We don't bounce as well when we get older.
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