But we left home this morning at 10:30 A.M. and we got home at 4:00 P.M. So even at a crep-i-tude a good fifteen miles. At no point did she give me tired indicators. Hungry? Yes. Thirsty? Yes. Tired? Not really. The first hour or so we had company. LSEGH accompanied us on his first (and probably only) ride on Phebes. She didn't really do anything bad or horribly unruly. She is just a whole different kind of horse to ride than Big Cree. Cree is like a low-geared Cadillac. Phebes is ummm...how do I describe it? Rather energetic, and spooky. I was kind of hoping this morning that it would work with them as it would give her a slow job which is what she really needs. I think she wanted to do a moderate LD. Oh-well. We tried! We rode back with them, and then took off to do the hills to the south of us. Journey was a minor turd until we pulled out of Cree's magnetic force, then, new horse! Did a slow five miles over there, then headed north to the other neighbor's and did five miles on that side. We are still doing a lot of walking, and a lot of actual training on not breaking gait. At this point I would only ride with another person if they were in our zone of walkin' along....looking at the trees...drinking from the streams....eating some grass...oozing down hills. Journey wants to unravel otherwise, and I don't want her unraveled. I want her calm, thinking, and in learning to be a trail horse mode. I don't know how long I will have to work at things this way, I just know right this minute that is how it is. Hoping a winter of this will foster a slow work ethic in her brain. We wouldn't have had a completion today if it was the real deal. We'd have only made it half-way or so. But that is half-way, farther than we've been yet, and for the most part riding solo.
She drank at almost every stream crossing today until we got close to home. She was eating grass like no tomorrow! We did have a bucking episode when I deterred her from chasing Phebes up a hill, and she got mad and cut loose. I managed to only lose one stirrup, one rein her, and hang in there though....the rest of our ride was pretty darned good! ~ E.G.
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