Dog Valley in the Sunshine

Keno was put to work as a pony-boy today. I rode Keno and ponied Jetta out on the trails in the west desert-an area we call Dog Valley. Keno was great; Jetta was fabulous. When we returned to the trailer, I was very tempted to do the five mile loop again on her and pony Keno this time! The sun was out, the footing was good (at least no rockier than normal!) and we had miles and miles of trail and sagebrush covered hills all to ourselves. It was just what the doctor ordered for me!

Common sense prevailed in the end. I will not go out alone for my first trail ride on Jetta, tempting though it was. So before going home I stopped at the fairgrounds again. I rode Jetta again, working on keeping her soft and round. Some of my early lessons on Flyboy started coming back to me: don't collapse my ribcage, keep my legs long, lift the inside rein until she softens, etc. Jetta was very good and seemed better than yesterday. We worked on halts, too. As soon as I feel like I have a reliable stop in place, I will take her out on trail. The arena is a good place to start, even though I was tempted out there today. I probably would have been fine, but since there is no hurry I'd rather be safe than sorry.