Gorgeous Ride

Sandy came out to the barn with me this afternoon for a little trail ride. I can't believe it's December 9th and nearly 50F outside. I was a little bit surprised when Cody actually led fairly well to the back gate. And then we made it all the way down the hill without him turning around to try and go back. We did have a bit of an issue across the bridge, Cody didn't want to go up the hill so we went around the loop at the bottom of the hill first instead.

Axel was his usual pokey self and making Sandy ask for a walk every other step. We made it up the hill and around the meadow successfully and headed for the woods. Axel gave Sandy a bit of a thrill when he tried to canter up the little dip in the woods. The canter which was followed by Axel's usual buck. Luckily it wasn't much.

We went through the woods and turned around to head back. When we got to the dip I planned to make Cody stop at the bottom and walk up, something we need to practice. He spazzed and bolted up the hill. In the mean while Axel decided to have some fun of his own and proceeded to buck down the hill and back up the other side. Sandy just about lost it but managed to stay on. Not sure what had gotten into Axel. My second plan was to make Cody walk back down to the bottom of the dip and walk back up over and over again til he got it right. But Sandy was a little shaky I think and Cody was a ball of nerves. I could feel him vibrating, he did not want to go back down the hill. So we walked out of the woods and I told Sandy to just let Axel stand and eat and I schooled Cody a bit. I figured if he always wanted to run well then we were going to run. So we trotted around a tree in the meadow several times in each direction while Axel stood and ate. Cody was already worked up and sweaty and after trotting around on my command he was more than happy to walk when I asked. He was still a bit quick walking down the main hill back to the bridge but he was a lot calmer.

We made it back to the barn in one piece and fairly calmly. I was going to lunge Cody when we got back but he was pretty wet. So I tied him up and put a wool blanket on him. I wanted to take Axel out and let him trot or canter around and see if he was just cranky or what. His saddle is way too huge for me so I was flopping around and could hardly post. He cantered and bucked and was generally a pill. Even after that, though, he wasn't really sweaty at all. Just a bit wet under his girth and chest. After their apples both boys laid down to roll like good kids. Atleast we got to spend some time outside this weekend in the nice weather.

Next time Cody and I are going to have a little discussion over this running up the hill thing. We might spend quite some time going up and down that little dip. But we probably won't get a chance to do that until spring, if it ever decides to be winter. Until then it'll have to be some ground work.