We did it!

Cody and I went on our first ride alone since moving! I was hoping to maybe go for a ride with Tom on Corey since Axel had already gone out twice this weekend. But he was busy working on the cabin so I took the plunge. When I got there the horses looked pretty cranky, swatting flies non-stop. I saddled Cody up without tying him which required a little moving around but we managed. I figured since there were so many gates to open and close I'd just walk him down to the bridge and then get on. By the time we got there he was drenched in sweat. But he was fairly cooperative. Took a few tries to mount up and then a few tries to get him to start moving up the hill but we made it to the top. Unfortunately I had to dismount and put his saddle back on as it had slipped back from the sweat. I figured the last thing he needed was an excuse to act stupid so I eliminated that by fixing his saddle. Just a slight hiccup from dismounting, had to convince him we weren't done riding and he needed to walk into the woods. We trotted a bit in the woods and then calmed down and went forward willingly the rest of the way. Halfway through the woods he was behaving and listening to me so we turned around and went back home as a reward. We even made it back up to the barn without running. It was 97F out, so that might have had something to do with it. I untacked in the barn and gave Cody some treats and then brought him out and hosed him down. Hopefully the experience wasn't too traumatic for him ;)