Trail Time

So the weather didn't look great this morning, but hey, I had the day off and I was going riding. I called my friend Gail and asked her if she wanted to meet us at the trailhead. She agreed, so I loaded Keno and Jetta. I planned to pony Jetta out on the roller coaster hills.

We arrived at 9:30; Keno was already booted in his Easyboot Gloves, so I quickly saddled up. Just as Gail arrived it started to drizzle. It was a little windy, too, so I thought the rain would blow over. Gail was a good  sport so off we headed.

Keno was beside himself with excitement! It's not often he goes out with two lovely mares! (I'm sure the cold wind and rain added to the adventure in his mind, too.) So I had the reins in my left hand to control the jigging/bouncing super-stud Keno and lead rope in my right hand to guide Jetta, who seemed sure this was the post parade on race day. Actually, I must say Jetta was extremely well-behaved. Yes, she jigged a bit, and trotted some, too, but she didn't rush ahead or hang back or get mare-ish. She didn't pull on me at all and was very pleasant to Keno.

We were on a dirt (quickly turning to mud) road to start with and at one point we headed into the sagebrush to get out of the way of a dump truck. (The power line workers were out in force and probably thought we were nuts for riding in the steady rain.) An old metal gas can was laying in the sagebrush; Keno walked right over it of course, but Jetta stopped to take a look. That was the only hesitation she offered, and it was only for a moment--she followed right along past the can. It was hard ponying through the sagebrush since there was no trail, but we dodged the bushes and managed fine. Eventually we came to the top of the trail where Keno wanted to drink from the cattle tank. I wondered if Jetta would have issues approaching the big round metal tank since a lot of horses do, but she was fine. She even took a little drink from it! Not much fazes this girl.

Gail and I were getting pretty soggy! Keno had settled by now, and although Jetta was still trotting and walking, she never pulled on me at all. We rode through a couple of big puddles; Gail's horse, Star, just about sank in one. We passed a couple of pickup trucks--no problems there. We climbed up the first roller coaster hill and headed down the other side. In the interest of time (and sogginess!) we soon turned onto a road to head back to the trailers. Right by the trailers was a semi unloading a big noisy piece of road equipment. Keno was suspicious but I told him not to look at it, so nobody spooked or fretted. We unsaddled, loaded up and headed home to dry off.

I am so pleased with how Jetta takes everything in stride. Wow. I hope she is always so easygoing and calm. It is relaxing and fun. I'll be glad when I can ride her out on trail. The girth itch is healing pretty well, and the trainer is working with her for a few weeks, but then I hope it will be me and her out there together!