Kevin and I had a really nice ride last night.  it was cool, and there are still no bugs—we are enjoying it while we can.  We assumed that the tree that was blocking the trail was still there, so we turned at the river crossing before it and headed back towards home.  to make it a longer ride, we planned to pass home and go the other way for a while. 

That made it a perfect day to work on trotting towards home.  we have regularly trotted towards home when we are far away, but the closer you get, the more difficult it becomes—well that is if you have a spunky horse like Cole Train.  Starry is a laid back Quarter Horse, and Kevin looks for ways to wake him up.  (I had a horse like him, so I know there is a huge difference.)  When they are close to home, Starry trots just the way he likes him to.  When I am close to home on Cole, I sometimes lose my brakes, and he can go way faster than I want.  My goal is to have my horses trot steadily towards home and be responsive to me. Fast is okay—actually preferable—but it must be in control.  (I love a fast trot.)  No cantering allowed without permission, of course.

When Cole gets it right, he gets a lot to praise and I rub his withers.  This seems to keep him steady.  When the excitement gets the best of him, I stop him immediately.  Though Kevin thinks we should just enjoy the speed, I don’t want him to practice what I don’t want him to do—what kind of training is that?  Sometimes it is tough riding with your boyfriend.

We ended up getting quite a bit of good trotting—fast but steady.  Only twice did I have to bring Cole to a walk to settle down.  We managed to trot within a minute of the intersection that leads home, too.  Cole was only a little upset to pass it up, and soon as we got to good trail, we trotted again—just slower since we were now going away from home. 

It was a great ride.

Next, it was time to take Cruise on his walk.  Well, the cooler weather animated him, to say the least.  The first five minutes, he didn’t walk—he gaited.  I refused to let him trot.  In a way, I was hoping he would, anyway, and then I would see he trots soundly and has recovered from the suspensory injury, but at the same time, I was very afraid I would find out he was just as lame as before.  He did gait sound, I think.  It is harder to tell because—unlike a trot where their heads stay still, there is a bob in the gait—and he goes so fast that it is hard to see if the bobs are even.  In fact, he goes so fast that I just struggle to keep up.  I was so glad when he settled down.

I then let Dante out to play.  Kevin shooed him around with a whip, and he had a fine time cantering about.  He has a pretty way of cantering, but I really like his trot.  I left Kevin with him and cleaned his stall. 

Then I cleaned 3 more stalls and fed all the horses.  Kevin already watered.  It was a busy evening, and it was nice to sit down and drink a can a pop with Kevin—but he only gave me a few minutes.  He had to rush home and watch a basketball playoff game.  I really am a basketball widow…