riding solo

After our trip up north, came the rain, rain, mud and more rain. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining, we need it - but does it have to rain for endless days in a row? Not sure why Mr. Nemo gets a rock stuck in his right front foot, in the same spot - every - single - day - when it gets muddy at our place. Consequently, Nemo ended up a little ouchy. Not much we can do about the weather, so we made sure to keep the bedding dry, picked his feet a lot, and kept a watchful eye on him. It was minor and Nemo is fine now, but it brought our trail riding to an abrupt halt. 

So, I did something I've never done my entire life - I went on a trail ride, alone. We'll not really alone, Koda was with me. It took me a while to muster up the courage. I guess if you wanna ride that bad, you just gotta go for it. 

I would rather not ride alone under any circumstances, but upon occasion I'm okay with it in an arena. However, our arena is the fair weather type. We don't own the land, so it has remained a dirt bottom and easily becomes a muddy mess. We can't use it most of the year. Since riding in the arena wasn't an option, I asked my hubby if he would at least be down at the farm while I tried to find a place to ride.

I saddled Koda up, and headed out towards the wooded paths. We rode into the woods a little, things were going well. I decided to keep the ride short and sweet, and call it a success.  When I got back to the pasture, I told Brad what a good boy Koda was being - and to that he replied "well then, why are you back already" um, good point. So Koda & I headed out for round two. 

This time we rode along the edge of the north field, until we came upon the snowmobile entrance to the woods. A big tree had fallen down, and was blocking it. With a little encouragement, Koda stepped over it with his two front legs and did his usual draaaagging his back legs across. Lifting ones legs is a LOT of work you know! At least in his mind it is. Koda didn't think our ride was much fun anymore. It wasn't long after, he did his backing "I don't want to go that way" thing and spun around towards the pasture. I told him we wouldn't go over anymore logs, but the ride must go on. 

We continued until we came upon an incline area. It was a little muddy, but not bad. He backed, and spun around again. Really? Not a good place to be doing that! He just made himself more work getting us out of that awkward slanted spot. It was a little slickery, so I'm glad he listened. We rode until I asked him to turn around and head back home. Of course, he happily obliged. 

On the way back, Koda needed more then one reminder to sloooow down. It was close to feeding time, pretty sure that was on his mind - food always is. The look on Nemo's face when we rounded the bend within eye sight, was priceless. He was standing in the closest corner, ears perked, head up high, intently watching for us. Not sure if it was out of concern, or if he was saying "didn't you forget someone"? I was pretty happy that Koda & I had a successful first solo ride! It was nice, just me & my boy.

Koda & I, riding at Yellowstone (with Brad & Nemo)October 2012