Wizard Ride 283: Hot Dog

Friday, 9/16/11

I took a much-needed mental health day, and set out for the barn early for a ride with Rachel and Lily. A few other people were planning to ride as well, so they joined us for the first leg of out adventure. We rode around the main loop at a walk with the big group, and I experimented with putting Wizard on the front, as well as the back of the herd. Wizard was a little anxious at the back, but not bad enough to cause any problems. When we got to the end of the regular loop, our friends went back to the barn, and three of us continued to the tree farm.

As we left our usual trails and headed to the tree farm, Wizard got a little amped up. When we walked through the park, it felt like I was riding a coiled spring. He did not actually lose control, but got pretty hot when one rider and horse separated from the herd to hop some logs. We rode around the tree farm for maybe half and hour and then headed home. Our trail ride totaled about two hours, but it was almost all at the walk. When we got back to the barn, I rode with my barn buddies to the hot dog truck down the road. Wizard (again) mostly was okay, but got really, really anxious when one rider circled her pony around the truck. I think he thought they were leaving to head back to the farm.

We walked back to the farm, and I rode Wizard in the arena for a little while, not so much for the exercise, but to cool his mind a little. He had reached the edge of his calmness, and I wanted to work him back into that calmness. It worked really well, and he trotted around the arena quite nicely, doing serpentines and figure 8s with nice contact and a relaxed topline. Maybe he needs to be ridden two hours every day :^P