Had a great ride—actually 2 great rides, yesterday.  The first was on Cole with my boyfriend and Starry.  I think my boyfriend is getting a little crazy.  He always complains that his horse goes too slow, and he does.  Well, he speeds up with another horse.  We started out trotting with Starry in the lead—and I saw my boyfriend tapping him lightly with the whip every few strides.  I was hoping for a quiet trot, and he wanted just to go faster and faster.  Cole took it all in stride. 

After that, I thought I would lead.  Starry usually won’t pass another horse. This way, I could control the speed.  We started out trotting the next section of trail much calmer—until Star did try to pass!  Cole didn’t like it and stopped.  We walked a ways until we got to a spot where I have cantered Cole a lot.  I was in the trotting in the lead and Cole was hoping to canter, so he really picked up the speed.  I heard Star cantering behind us.  Cole kept at the trot.  My boyfriend was happy, and so was I.  We took a little break and then did one final stretch of trail with Cole in the lead.  He went a little slower, but still kept a fast enough speed that Starry and my boyfriend were happy.  We turned around and walked home.  It turned out to be a great ride.

I took Cruiser out by myself.  We did the same ride, but I had to do some trotting on the way home because I was running out of daylight.  Of course, Cruiser was getting excited from it.  I had to keep stopping him and restarting him.  We did make it back to the barn before it got too dark.  I don’t mind riding in the dark, but we do have to go along a little stretch of road to get to our barn.

They get the night off, today.  I have a date with a guy named Bruce…