Back in the Hills

After how freakishly hot it was on Tuesday, I was inspired to get out on the trail early on Wednesday before heading off to teach lessons. After a slight delay, Rico and I were on the road and headed to Harvey Bear again.

Love this view

I had wanted to go somewhere else, but Harvey Bear is the closest trail facility, it's easy to get there, easy to park/turn around, and I know the loops there really well.

I did at least opt for a different loop than we normally go on. This one was slightly longer and involved a lot more rolling hills. On our last ride we did just over four miles in the hills and then did the two mile loop on flat ground. The loop yesterday was almost six miles, so I figured he could handle it. I know to endurance people six miles isn't much, but Rico is older, has joint problems, and has always struggled with his breathing and endurance.

But he handled it SUPER well and even galloped up the last hill.

We had a great time. We climbed to the top of the first hill and Rico trotted and cantered about half of it. At the top, he quietly turned toward the tree that I like and I had to sort of herd him onto the other trail. He wasn't that curious, since we've been down this way before. Another right, then left turn and we were on a brand new trail (for us) heading down into a valley. He was STOKED.

Such a pretty place, despite being kind of brown

A bit narrow but Rico was fine

I spent the first couple of miles on my phone reading about trail trials, something I recently became interested in doing. I'm so so bummed that the one in the area all year is the same weekend as one of my students' first shows ever (so I very well can't ditch her, my sort-of-working-student isn't even around to coach her on that one day, boo). I briefly contemplated entering and hoping that I could coerce someone to haul Rico over if ride times worked out, but that seemed like a lot of hoping for something that I probably should dedicate a whole weekend to rather than just a few hours.

Trail trials seem super fun though. I love dressage but it can be stressful to me with all the expectations I put on myself. I don't care if we suck at trail trials. I don't know much about them (maybe someone who reads this blog can enlighten me), but based on what I've read, they're basically short trail rides (4-6 miles) with obstacles that you're judged on. Some of it is horse behavior/movements (standing tied, standing when being mounted, leading, etc), some of it is horse tolerance (not being spooky at bikes/strollers/joggers), and some of it is actual obstacles (walking over stuff, opening gates, etc). Rico would rule at this!

But alas, maybe next year, and maybe with TC one day too!

Solid trail horse right here

Heading down to the loop

Rico surprised me a few times by picking up the canter randomly and hauling ass up a hill while I was reading about how horses are judged on their good behavior or looking at the map to make sure I didn't accidentally go on a 20 mile ride. I love that he's so forward out there and clearly enjoys it so much!

We got ourselves onto this tiny trail that I wouldn't have felt comfortable with on the sideways spooker (TC), but Rico just trucked up and around the corners with no problems. At one point he almost careened off a switch back by thinking it didn't turn, woops.

I can really see how cross training and getting this horse to do different things in his life would have been better for him. I don't regret keeping him in a glass case, he very easily could get hurt jumping or trail riding or any of the other fun things I waited to do with him in his retirement. Keeping him safe was what guaranteed (as best as I could have hoped) that I made it to GP on an older soft-tissue-injury-laden animal. But I think in a perfect world, Rico would have done a different thing every day. Trail riding, jumping, fox hunting, driving, sidesaddle, whatever. And sure, a bit of dressage.

 I led him down the final hill to take weight off
his coffins

Rico hates that he's my horse sometimes, look
at that beautifully developed underneck lol

I'm glad we get to do these things now though! Next up, today, is bombproofing day- I want to try a couple of things that I'm planning on torturing TC with when I go see him tomorrow and when he comes home. He should be back in just four short weeks, fingers crossed!

Rico isn't the best to get panoramic shots on but this one turned out pretty good!