In Which We Have EARS!!

Well I had been jealous of everyone else's lovely trail photos, especially Saiph who has a whole park across the street from her barn and has been thoroughly enjoying it this fall! So yesterday the expensive trimmer-who-I'm-not-sure-how-much-he-actually-knows was out and I wanted to avoid him--what better way than to go off on a long trail ride!

And I even managed to get a set of ears in my picture!

The really shocking thing is that he stood still long enough for me to take this!

Hah, you can kind of see just how fuzzy he is in this picture. Anytime it gets much above 60, he is sweaty now! His ears look a little "questioning" here but that is because I asked him to stand still while I took the pic. Usually they are straight forward. :)

The really awesome thing is that this whole ride was...wait for it.....BAREBACK. I've historically been a terrible bareback rider--well I can officially say that is now history! We even went across the creek, which is a not-too-bad drop into the creek and then a terrible long, muddy scramble out. It feels like this...

Shamelessly stolen from the Renegade hoof boots website...anybody want to buy River a pair?

.....but muddy. And somewhat shorter. I'll have to get a picture sometime. Anyways we came out the other side of that unscathed too! I may or may not have grabbed mane and left him to figure it out on his own...

And no spooks and no silliness, just a nice forward marching walk the whole time. He tried trotting a couple times but I informed him I didn't want to trot bareback with his bony spine. We were out for about 45 minutes and it was so much fun. I told River maybe we would go into endurance after all--he could probably walk faster than the other horses can trot! ;)

We came back and discovered I had committed the unpardonable sin--I hadn't soaked his beet pulp already, so he had to wait.

MOOMMM I'M DYYYIIIINNGGG......

He was not pleased. He forgave me quickly though once the required foods were in front of him. :)

His feet are so much better from when I first brought him home, it's crazy. That he can do all that, and not be sore afterwards, is just unreal. So happy.