Rico's Big Adventure

Sunday morning I had wanted to haul TC out, but I was really not feeling it. I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to do, and honestly I just wanted to ride at home. The next three weekends I won't be home, so having a weekend to just ride sounded better than having to deal with him off the property. It may not be setting me up well for fall shows (one of which is the weekend after those three weekends off), but I don't think TC minded. He was still crusty from his hives.

Wanting to get going!

One thing that I've been giving myself a hard time about recently is spending time with Rico. I feel terrible that I can't give him more time. There's good reasons for that, I really don't have much time in my schedule. Weekends are often booked and on the days I take off from riding during the week, I usually have errands to do.

There are some less good reasons for it too. Rico isn't as enthused about riding as TC is, so a lot of the time he doesn't seem to want to be ridden. He's also out of shape and not at all strong like he used to be, which is a constant reminder that he's getting older. I'm scared of that. But honestly, I don't want to regret not spending every chance I have with him. So I decided to do something with him this last weekend for sure.

But like I said, he's always less than enthused about riding at home. And it makes me sad/frustrated/full of feelings to have to MAKE him walk down the road. So on Sunday I threw him in the trailer, and Sunny (my mom came too, yay family trail rides), and headed out to the trails.

SO EXCITED

Rico obviously can't climb a bunch of hills, but the local trail facility has a flat loop that's a couple miles long. So we headed out there.

Rico was HILARIOUS about the trailer. I packed a bareback pad and his hackamore, then got him out and brushed him. He was so excited. He knew that the trailer was packed so he was wiggly in the cross ties and eager to just GET IN THE TRAILER. Once as Sunny was out too, he was just beside himself. He was pissed when Sunny got in first and tried to crowd my mom as she was coming out. I had to hold him back like crazy.

Once there, I unclipped him and he immediately ran backwards to the end of the trailer to get out... the door wasn't open yet. Hold your horses, Rico. I quickly tacked him up and hopped on and he would NOT stand still to let my mom get Sunny ready. I let him walk around the trailer a bunch and then we were off!

Trail along the pathway

The loop went well, it's a little boring, but Rico made it fun by being so enthused about it. He kept trying to stop and talk to everyone along the way and power walked the whole time. He even got to trot a little bit! His trot felt so much better than it did this last spring when he was still recovering from his two internal infections. I even slipped my leg toward the passage aid and he wiggled his neck. He can't passage anymore, but he can sass me about it.

After the loop, we thought about taking Rico up to the second gate, which involved a bit of climbing. I decided against that, since I wanted to keep it easy and fun for Rico. The horse is the sort of horse who will literally work himself until he falls down (has happened a few times) so while he probably would have been okay, I wanted to be really careful. Next time we can try a little more maybe.

He kept wandering off the path

Despite having more feelings than I wanted to about it, I'm glad Rico and I got to hit the trail. After I'm done traveling for the year (I only have one, mayyyybe two weekends that I'm in town between now and Thanksgiving), I want to try to ride him a bit more. TC is definitely going to get some time off this winter, so hopefully I can get some good Rico time in.

TC is super fun, and my ride on him on Sunday was incredible, but Rico will always be my heart horse. I'm grateful for every day I get to spend with him!