much better...and mud!

Major finally seemed to be feeling like himself on Saturday. I didn't want to over-do it since he was just sick, so on Sunday I decided to take him on a short ride, with my SO hiking along. Major seemed to enjoy his time off a bit too much, and was a bit of a jerk, wanting to just munch on grass (as that had been the last 3 weeks of walks) and trot! He has been on plenty of turnout, with the pasture totally dry and didn't offer up anything silly in the arena, but he loves the trail.

As we jigged through mud, slipping and sliding, I was contemplating all the different kinds of mud there was, a short list:

• deep sucking mud: at least fetlock deep, sometimes with lovely puddles on top
• slick mud: usually found on previously nice slopes and banks, a slick layer on top of firm ground
• slippery mud: an inch or so deep, very very wet, usually on trails that are now small creeks
• disaster mud: completely destroyed trails where off-road trucks have ruined the trail forever
• quicksand: scary looking mud/sand that we don't go anywhere near, as even stepping near it causes all the ground to shake 
• swamp: water and mud that was so nasty I avoided it altogether
• puddles: those are actually kind-of fun. Once it is known what the bottom is, they are fine to go through

We took it very slow, as all the different muds were everywhere. Whenever Major thought we were going home he was a brat, so we did a lot of turning away and working. At one point he was not listening going home, and there was a nice large safe puddle about 4 inches deep. I told him if he thought he could trot through it towards home he could certainly do it the other direction as well. Major didn't especially like that idea, but we trotted back and forth multiple times. My SO thought it was very funny, and got some video, but I was pretty annoyed at the time!

The sun is out, the trails have had one more day to dry. Today I'll be tormenting Major again by working on walking nicely. And we are taking out a friend on a new horse, so we best be on our best behavior...fingers crossed!