Play Date at the Horse Park

Yesterday Cupid and his BFF had a play date at the horse park.  Since his buddy is bigger then him, we got to ride in his extra tall and wide straight load trailer.  Cupid loaded fine, and on the way home he even self loaded and unloaded :)

Sharing a hay bag, as BFFs do

We started out in one of the arenas, which had no jumps and just one other horse.  I let Cupid walk for several minutes on a longer rein, trying to get him to stretch, then taking up contact.  We started trotting on a circle and once he seemed settled around the arena, with lots of circles thrown in.  Cupid had a little spook, I think from a horse walking by below, but was able to refocus quickly.  We cantered a bit both directions on a circle, then ended our arena work with Cupid relaxing into a nice stretchy trot. 

Would rather stop and eat

Once on the XC field we trotted around and through a water complex, and jumped a tiny vertical stadium jump set by it.  I was pretty conservative - when my friend asked if I wanted to trot or canter in the open areas I told her if it's okay I would rather walk, and pick a few places with a larger clearing where we can do a bit more.  Cupid probably would have been fine... but I'm a chicken.  We did hop a few logs, and canter a bit where we had room to circle.  Cupid was fairly good when his buddy cantered off a bit.  He was anxious for a moment, but then realized there is grass everywhere and got distracted trying to eat.

We also tried a few of the trail obstacles, and Cupid was surprisingly not into it.  He wanted nothing to do with the bridge, and was not great with the gate.  ??  Hopefully he will be better if we go to the trail trial clinic at the end of the month!

What a view!  If only all that land was open for riding.

Despite chickening out a bit and Cupid being uncooperative with the obstacles, it was a fun day and I'm glad we went.  I still find myself getting a little tense and riding up his neck, which I need to continue working on.  But the more I do it at home the more it becomes a habit and it's already better then it used to be.  Hopefully we go again before too long, and can both be a little more comfortable and confident and try a bit more!