Trail ride o' doom.

Ok, so it really wasn't that bad. I thought it would be good to get out of the arena and do some trot sets up some hills. Went a mile down the dirt road and came to the old trail the hardcore eventing girls use.

Of course, there was a slope and then a stream you had to cross before you hit the actual trail. I got off and waded in first to be sure the footing was still safe after all the rain.... it came up to my hips ahahahaha. Berky kind of looked at me like, "You have to be kidding, right?" and followed me in (like a good boy, of course.)

He was a butt and wouldn't hold still for me to get back on, so I had to climb up the side of the ditch and kind of fling myself into the stirrup. The first time, he clambered up after me, mowing down a bunch of saplings in the process. Argh. So this is obviously a hole in our training- Standing. Still. We'll have to work on this.

The actual trail itself wa a little over two miles long and GORGEOUS. It wended up through the scrub to a little ridge next to a stream. There were some little logs and stumps to stear around, but considering its primary use, it was very nice going. There were a lot of dips in the path- closest thing to varied terrain we have in Florida.

We got off by some power lines and galloped a little ways down the road (shoulder, that is. It's very low traffic and wide.) It was amazing being able to open up like that- he seemed to enjoy it, too, and came right back to me even though we were in the snaffle.

Trotted a quarter mile or so and then had a nice long walk before we picked up the pace again. Just a nice canter- maybe a minute and a half's worth, followed by a walk-trot set. We walked the rest of the way home.

He seemed bright, albeit tired, after we got home. I was really pleased with how willing and bold he was- my spooky 17hh (Yep, We measured him- 17 on the nose... holy cow!) Thoroughbred out on the trail all by his lonesome. Tomorrow, Claire and I am going to have to go back out again and poke around some more.