Earlier in the week, I decided I needed to get out on Jasper ASAP before he got too "comfortable" doing the whole arena thing at the new place. I definitely wanted to take advantage of the newness and get out on the trail. The really great thing about Moscow Mountain is in the beginning of the ride (when they're hot), you go up...and up....and up some more. Then after they start to get the hang of it, you can turn back around. I love it!
The day dawned with a 30% chance of rain. I was thinking the weather forecasters were pretty dumb, as when the report was out, it was already raining. However, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and have never let a little rain get in the way of riding (in fact, I enjoy riding in the rain). Lacey was as determined as I to make it out, and so we made a date.
Wayne and I got out to the barn and pulled out the horses and brushed them down while we waited for Lacey, and then I turned Jasper out in the arena to get out any last-minute galloping out of his system. We had a little technical difficulties getting him to load, but with consistency and making him work outside the trailer, he caught on and loaded right up.
We headed out and it seemed to take forever to get to our riding-out spot at a good friend, PJ's, place at the base of the mountain. (I guess I should add at this point that Moscow "Mountain" is really just a big hill when compared to real mountains.) We unloaded and had an audience of PJ's 5 horses watching the proceedings very intently. He had nicely penned them up at the front of the property so that when we rode out the back, they wouldn't accompany us along the trail.
Jasper was incredibly calm during tack up. I wasn't sure if it was the short turn-out before loading or the loading itself (or the feeling of his true calling being so near) that made him so calm, but I was pretty happy with it. We mounted and headed out without issue. Wayne was riding big-girl Callie and Lacey was riding her Fresian cross gelding, Gandolf (who is now convinced he'd rather be a dressage horse because trail riding is HARD). You can see Gandolf's head here--that's me ahead in the orange (hunting season).
The trail out the back of PJ's is along an "aisle" between two of his pastures. The horses are almost always spooky during this part, and I haven't been able to figure out if it's the excitement of heading out or the claustrophobia of being between two fences that makes them so jumpy. Jasper was on high alert, but we didn't see anything too spooky and he still felt very "together" mentally. Once we got out of the pasture and onto the trail, he looked at a few more scary things, but was really quite reasonable. He wanted to lead (yay!) and just wanted to make sure there weren't any bears to eat the other horses. When he did see something he thought was concerning, he would stop with his head up and ears pricked and I would assure him it was either "definitely going to eat us" or "just a cougar" and he would calm right down, as if to say, "Oh...I was just checking." The tiniest bit of convincing with my leg and a calm hand on his neck urged him past all the monsters in the woods.
We spent the rest of the ride leading most of the time, and waiting for Wayne and Callie to catch up. Lacey and I did a little bit of trotting and cantering, but since this ride was mostly for brain work, we walked most everything. Once we reached the top, the sun came out and made things quite steamy for the walk back down. At this point, Jasper decided he really WAS an endurance horse, and wouldn't it just be better for us to gallop down the mountain? I reassured him that, no, it was not better, and he shortly decided he agreed. Here's us at the almost-top, where we turned around. He fiddled with his bit a lot, and unfortunately, that's when the picture got taken.
We didn't get to see any scary wildlife, but Lacey did bring her dogs. I was a little hesitant at first, judging by Jasper's initial reaction to her dogs running around back at the farm (read: neck arching, blowing, prancing and lots of snorting). However, I decided we may as well expose him to everything all at once, and since I like to ride with my dogs, now was as good a time as any. He stopped and looked at them a couple times when we'd round a corner and they'd "suddenly" appear, but he eventually stopped paying attention. At one point, one of her dogs ran up behind him and brushed him as he passed, and Jasper didn't flick an ear.
I was so proud of my boy when we got back. I was beaming from ear to ear, and wanted to call everyone I knew. He even loaded with hardly a problem, and we headed back with a few tired and happy horses.
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