Trail Ride

Normally when I say Cupid and I go on a trail ride I am just referring to the little paths on the property.  There are nice little bridle paths with some gentle inclines and good footing, and Cupid and I are pretty comfortable on these.  However this weekend I decided to take him off the property to the county park nearby. 
This adventure begins with riding about half a mile down a busy road.  Lot of fast cars and motorcycles!  Luckily the traffic doesn't bother Cupid, though I always worry because you never know how stupid the drivers are going to be.  We passed by a house which was trimming trees and chipping the wood.  Cupid definitely looked at that but walked past it.  He was nervous, but being a good boy.  We got to the park, and there were quite a few hikers.  The trails start with a pretty steep descent.  Cupid was walking fast, but otherwise good.  He whinnied once and I think looking for his buddies.  We walked a little ways down, I figured that was enough for one day and we turned back.  I let him trot a little ways back up, but didn't want to go too fast and bowl over the hikers!  He was the same the rest of the way back, a little quick but didn't try anything naughty.  We passed the tree trimmers again without incident.

Photo by Karl Pingle, http://www.openspace.org/

It rained on Saturday night, so on Sunday I rode in the covered arena.  We had a nice, easy ride.  I put Cupid's hunter gear on, so no martingale and no flash noseband.  If my trainer was there he would have gotten on my case about being lazy, and letting Cupid be lazy.  Oh well, we have 4 lessons next week so I might as well take advantage now!  We finished with a few little jumps.