Trail Ride, Purisima Creek Redwoods

Purisima Creek Redwoods is only about a half mile from our barn, but in the past when I've taken Cupid there he got very anxious walking away from home.  When my trainer offered to trailer over, I was curious to see how he would be.  We loaded the horses for the short ride with their saddles on, so when we got there all we needed to do was tighten the girths and put bridles on.  I used a small post to mount, and we were off.  Cupid headed down the trail on a loose rein, behaving perfectly!  I knew he was relaxed when we tried to eat some weeds along the path.  It was a warm day, but luckily most of time we were shaded by trees.

I was super happy with how good, and brave, Cupid was.  He had no problem with the changes in light, or walking by large boulder type rocks or anything else we encountered. 

The one down side on this park is that you start at the highest point, so you start by walking down hill before it flattens out a little, then heads down some more.  We rode side by side, or sometimes Cupid led.  The trail does not loop around, and when we turned around Cupid did get a little quick.  But since it was all uphill, he was puffing and sweating before long. 

We got back to the parking lot, got off and walked the horse to cool them off.  Cupid was pretty soaked in sweat by this point.  I hosed him off when we got back to the barn. 

The next day we had a flat lesson, with our German martinale on.  I think Cupid was a little sore from the hills, because he felt a little uncoordinated.  So we took it easy, a little shorter and not doing anything new but I still made sure Cupid gave me what I asked such as making him go in a good working trot instead of just an easy jog.  His attitude was quite good, so I promised him the following day off!