She passed!

One of the skills any good trail horse (not to mention a good endurance horse) has is the ability to go quietly down the trail alone.  In that vein, I have been slowly preparing Ruby for this skill.  In all honesty, this is something that she should have been exposed to by her fifth or sixth year at the latest, but with all of the other holes in her training I am sure it hasn't been done.  Today's ride was a test - I rode her by herself through the gelding pasture.  This is a pasture that she does not graze in and there are areas from which you can't see the barn, so she was definitely outside of her comfort zone.  She did try to duck back to the barn a few times but there were no spooks or hissy fits.  When we turned around she tried to rush back to the barn and was so adamant that I made her trot back AWAY from the barn - if there was going to be a fit, it should have been then.  Instead, Ruby did me proud so tomorrow will be our first attempt at trail riding completely alone.   I'm not going out there thinking that we are going to get down the trail without incident, instead I plan to ride her in the parking area to feel her out. If she has a meltdown, we'll do our usual arena workout close to the trailer.  If she seems good, we'll still do our usual workout but then we'll try the trail.  The place I'm going is small, completely fenced (including the parking area) and has no asphalt or gravel.  Fingers crossed that things go well!  In the meantime:

Ruby bran-mash-face...

and Bourbon bran-mash-face!

P.S.  Miss Anti-PDA now lets me hug her neck without pulling away.  And she comes to me when I call her, even if I'm not in sight.  Huge leaps of faith for her - I officially feel special. 

New Developments

Bourbon

Last week, I rode Bourbon five days in a row.  He's doing really well, remembering what leg pressure means and I only have to sit back to get him to stop.  We've only worked at the walk so far, due to his toe crack and the possibility that he's still a bit sore-footed.  I haven't seen any lame steps, but I had never seen him offer to gallop in the pasture until Monday.  Now that I know for certain that he's not sore, we're going to up the ante.  That being said, I haven't had a chance to ride this week due to weather, etc.  Instead, we have been desensitizing, mostly with the plastic bag.  He was doing very well with the bag today so we went for a walk down the road, during which time he had four heart attacks.  Two were caused by one of the barn cats - she would wait until we were right next to her then freak out and run from the trash cans and out between Bourbon's legs, while we were trying to pass through a small gate *sigh*.  If he was the kind of horse that didn't respect your space, I'd probably be injured right now.   Luckily, he really tries to be a good boy and didn't jump on top of me.  When I turned him out, he was wound so tight that he galloped away - poor guy.

Ginger

Ginger is the little Appy/Arab mare that I mentioned in my last post.  She was ridden today for the first time in years.  She is getting better regarding the pushiness but is still having some issues rushing through gates, etc.  She is now very respectful while lunging.  She's also getting better about being separated from her buddies - because she's never seen people as leaders, she started out extremely buddy sour. Jennie, a horse trainer and the lady that is placing her, said I can ride her when I come out to visit again next Thursday.  I'm looking forward to it :)  Also, Jennie was originally told that Ginger is 6 years old...according to paperwork, it appears she's actually around 11.  When Jennie has her teeth done, we will verify Ginger's age.   

Other Happenings

Jennie is affiliated with (I think she's vice-president of) the local mustang rescue.  She has a training/boarding barn and takes and rehabs some of the mustangs.  Today she asked me if I'd be willing to help out with a Wounded Warrior/mustang project that she's putting together.  The plan is to pair military veterans with an untamed mustang that they will be responsible for gentling.  Being a vet myself, I said hell yeah!!  I don't know what role she'll need me to fill (perhaps liaison with the local bases?), but I'm definitely looking forward to it.  Jennie also asked if she can start training with me for endurance rides - she wants to complete Tevis with one of her mustangs.  Another hell yeah.  She has various upcoming obligations and can't start training until next summer.  No worries - if Ginger works out, there's nothing saying I can't start training earlier than next summer.  And if Ginger doesn't work out I was going to ask Jennie to keep an eye on the mustang rescue for a likely candidate for me anyways.  I have no Tevis plans/dreams myself but it's exciting to think that I'll have someone to condition with and possibly even share fuel costs with at future rides.

And because I have no other pictures to share, here's a pic of me and Eclipse during my last riding lesson.  Not too shabby.