that's more like it

A week of no riding after our grand misadventure at Cronan. No big injuries, just not enough time. Which gave the weather time to warm up and become January perfect.

Major and I headed out, already it was probably 50 degrees and sunny. Puddles were frozen in the shade, but we flew to Granite Bay. He was a bit spookier than usual, leftover worry from last week? We saw some people bouldering (small rock climbing) and he just froze. We walked up to them, "Oh, they're people" he realized, and walked off again. I kept him moving, as moving feet didn't have as much time to think about silly. But I also tried to keep it at a trot. At the canter I kept getting some silly jumps forward, not in the mood for that!

We were the first to use the trough that day, as evidenced that it was still frozen over too! I was about to leave the staging area when some recent arrivals took off ahead of me. That's fine, I'll wait, they looked like they had their hands full. Major sure wanted to go straight after tham, but we waited a bit. Not long enough, as they were still up ahead, circling naughty horses. Again, we waited, and when they cut on a side trail we kept going.

I had wanted to ride down by the lake, but they were having a large mountain biking event. There were tents and vendors and lots of people. Combine that with Major's amped spookiness, I decided to be prudent and take the high road. Literally.

dam nice view

We cantered up the big hill, which is fairly straight and graveled and let him run it out. At the top a slight breather, and back down the other side.

near the beach, ears says "home is that way!" though it's actually not.

This is where the American River ride went UP. We went down, met up with cyclists and runners, no issues. Ate a bit of grass by the beach. I was going to continue on as the road circles around. Major did not realize it was faster to go home the road, and wanted to go back the way we came. Fine, we'll take the longer path. And back up the hill we went. Problem was he tried to channel a bit of the bad horse from American River, so at the top he got stopped and had to work and think. And we walked down the other side much better.

Back at the staging area we were very calmly standing at the trough, I was happy for his quietness. Then here come those same horses we followed out, coming back! They were amped up and super jiggy, Major saw them and thought it must be an endurance ride to have horses that silly! I should be silly too! Um, no, not so much.

We headed home. He was still pretty forward, but under control. He is still good and slows over all the bad rocky spots, but slowing down just got him extra crabby. So fine, we'll go father. At the forest we usually turn left. Nope, continued onto rock trail. His steps faltered…thwarted!

rock trail view

Rock trail is hard, so went for a bit till his brain re-engaged, and headed home. We were able to actually get a nice walk through much of the forest, Major was super sweaty after a good workout, and got mash, his cooler, and I attempted to dry him off. But it was so nice and warm, I wasn't too concerned that he was still wet, till he rolled in the dirt and it became mud. Hopefully it'll just brush off tomorrow, right?

scratch my sweaty head, please?

I probably let him get away with too much this ride. Though I needed to just move, and so did he. Sometimes that just works.

double ride

After last week's adventures in speed, I wanted to take is slower, but still put in some miles. My friend B and her horse Ziggy were up to the test. We wanted to do a mini endurance ride, coming back home halfway through and then heading back out.

Major did not seem to annoyed with Ziggy along, who is often his archenemy. They both headed up the trail, and jauntily trotted towards Rattlesnake Bar. Perfect weather, not too cold, no dust, lake view. The park is closed to vehicles, so we tried to get a good canter on the dirt roads. Both Major and Ziggy know that we often turn around here, so they were a bit sluggish, but we kept going, and they relented. Coming around the corner, there is a large yellow caution sign, warning boaters of stuff. Ziggy saw it as we passed and gave a huge spook into the road! B managed to keep her seat, she was happy to have boots on when she landed on the asphalt, and then manged to crack a joke: obviously Ziggy can read, and the sign meant "Imminent Danger! Must run now!" It is always good to laugh when your adrenaline is going!

The ride back was less eventful, even though we took them the "wrong" way home: they were very good at pointing out when we kept missing the turns back to the barn. Back home we untacked, gave them a drink and wet mash snack, ate some lunch, and headed back out.

Going back up the road Major seemed pretty chipper, but Ziggy was dragging, He does use up quite bit of energy worrying about the horse in front, the speed, the scary stuff...but we hit the forest and both horses just shut down. We used all of our riding skills just to keep them walking a reasonable pace, they soooo did not want to go out again! They were just dragging down the trails, we both needed a crop! I thought the lake trail would perk them up, so we hit the sand and headed for Granite Bay. Major was in front, trotting along, when he sidestepped, threw on the brakes, and declared himself done. I don't think so! We continued and got to Beeks Bight, where we had to decide: continue on or head back. Both horses were being so good, none of the misbehavior I had last week, so we headed back. Ziggy was in front and didn't know where were were, so he didn't think we were going home. Major knew, but kept it to himself in the back!

We eventually cut down to the lower trail, Major took the lead back along the lake, and he certainly knew where we were! We took a cutoff from the lake trail into a very unused access to Pioneer Express trail, and then back into the forest. Major did the strange sidestepping thing one more time, I think he just didn't want Ziggy behind him. No kicking at Ziggy this time, very good behavior, but he will need to get used to someone back there! He is fine with most others, it is so hard to figure out their quirks.

The ride back was good, because both horses were pretty tired. The mileage wasn't too high, but the Pioneer Express trail is pretty taxing, with lots of up and down and rocks and dropoffs and bridges for them to think about. They were so good they got another snack and a good currying. Back in his paddock, Major was more interested in his leftover breakfast (I don't know how he could still be hungry!) than me, but I told him what a good boy he was today, and hid some carrots in his salt bucket.

All in all a fun adventure, though I know nothing like a real LD, still good practice and something different. And now I know for that second ride from home I need to carry a crop!