Koko gets three riders

I took Koko out to go riding with some friends yesterday. We had a lot of fun!! Alltogether we rode for more than 4 hours. One of the horses is a gaited mare that has a lot of energy and always loves to go fast. When we got up to our friends house in the morning, two of the boys rode her (one hanging on behind the saddle) and I rode Koko and we went out for a trail ride. We made three water crossings, and Koko went across first. On the way back we did some cantering and let them out into a gallop a few times, which was a lot of fun since they have about the same speed, that is, fast and faster, and there is a slight competitive streak in both of them. Mostly though we gaited and worked on collection and matching strides with each other. The mare, Cheyenne, has more of a paso gait- I'm not sure what to call it exactly since it isn't pure paso. When she is doing a slower gait she throws her legs out to the side like a Paso does, though it isn't as pronounced. When we got back we had a lunch break, as did the horses. Koko was the only gelding among mares, and it was funny to watch his reactions to them. Some other friends had brought over one of their mares, as well as a mare they had just purchased and picked up that morning, so they were getting used to each other from opposite sides of the fence. The mares would occasionally go into a huddle and then sqeal and kick out, and each time they did that, Koko would back further away and find a new clump of grass to work on (you could almost hear him: 'stupid mares, talking when they could be doing something useful- like eating!')

After lunch we took Cheyenne and Koko out together again, for a shorter time, and then came back to meet up with the others and ride in the field behind their house for awhile. That was actually what we were supposed to be doing, practicing for the 4-H show coming up, but it was so much more fun to go trail riding that practice went by the wayside for the most part. Then Caleb and I swapped horses for a few minutes, I rode Cheyenne and he rode Koko, and that was interesting to see the differences in them from the 'drivers seat'. Then we all went out for a trail ride. Since our other friends who had come only had two riding horses,their mare from home and the mare they had just bought, and there was three of them, one of the girls rode Koko double behind me for the trail ride. I was very proud of Koko, he didn't mind a bit. :-) All of us went out that time- there was Cheyenne, with two of the boys, Missy, Lily, the new mare, and Koko, so we had a nice group. Five horses and seven riders! LOL. Koko had a ball, he wasn't ready to quit even when we were back from the last ride. We probably rode 30-35 miles or so, actually probably more, but its difficult to calculate the time spent riding in the field. Only Cheyenne and Koko were really up for all that riding, which is why we took them out by themselves the first time in the morning.
So, I've got a sunburned nose and a ripped pair of jeans (barbedwire fence- we were going through a narrow spot, and Koko stepped one step too far to the left- I'm just glad it was my jeans in ribbons and not my leg!) but, of course, the day was absolutely perfect!! :-)