Here's Mud in Your Eye....

First, I want to thank Mare at Simply Horse Crazy for giving me a Lovely Blog Award. Thank you!!!! Mare and her horse Missy are a dynamic duo. If you haven’t checked out Mare’s blog before, I urge you to do so. :-)

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The past two weeks have been AMAZING weather-wise. Temps have been around the 23C mark and it’s been sunny. It has been perfect riding weather. This is my favourite time of year to ride. Not too hot, not too cold, no bugs and the trails are beautiful.

My friend, Jean has been easing me out on the trails when we have managed to get together outside of lessons and I have reconnected with another boarder (DH’s mom) who is an avid trail rider. Her and I have managed to get together the last three Sundays. To refresh your memory, DH is Gem’s turnout buddy and he is the leader. It’s actually quite hilarious to see a 14.3hh gelding push around a 16.0hh horse. I used to ride regularly with CA on Sundays, but she prefers the arena environment. As long time readers know, my ultimate goal is to trail ride comfortably and safely. Who knows....maybe trailer somewhere with friends and feel confident on new trails. Now that Jean has helped me with my trail riding confidence this past summer (baby steps!), I am fortunate to have found DH’s mom available to hit the trails on weekends. I have had as many trail rides in the last few months as I did all last year!

Most of the horses where I board are Quarter Horses that are around 15.0hh, with a couple of Arabians and Paints thrown in for good measure. While there are quite a number of open fields to wander around in, some of the more interesting terrain means going through some bushy areas or (my favourite) the forest. The paths through these areas are clearly for smaller horses. I can't tell you how many times I had to duck to get under branches or push saplings aside as we wondered through the brush, when no one else had a problem. Could all this bending and stretching and reaching actually be helping my balance???? Geez, I hope so!!! Sometimes the paths get so narrow, I have to pin my legs against Gem to avoid getting my knees bonked by trees.

DH and his mom have no problem negotiating the trails; they are both "petite" shall we say, while the gy-normous black beast and his proportionally sized rider tried to keep up without loosing an eye. You see, when your horse is 5 inches taller than just about every other horse on the place and you are tallish (5'7"), you have a whole different set of obstacles to deal with than other riders when out on the trails. Branches that clear the tops of other rider's heads hit you at face level. Trail openings that accommodate 900 lb. horses can be a tight squeeze for a ~1200 lb horse. A challenge, but one that I am up for! :-)

So here's the thing. My horse has a certain kind of quiet strength that allows us to maneuver through the herd when we come upon them in the forest without being challenged. He does not spook when the wild turkeys fly out of a bush and he only shows interest and not fear when the golfers next door yell suddenly. I can ride him in the arena during thunderstorms. Loud machinery noise, doesn't blink an eyelash. His weakness?.....Gem does NOT like mud! He may have had a bad experience in his previous life, or maybe it’s because he actually sinks quite deep in the mud because of his size (and my additional weight-whaaaa!!). Whatever the reason, he panics a bit. He will do just about anything to avoid mud.

Me: Gem, it's just mud. It's wet dirt.

Gem: I will walk in it and never come out.

Me: We will come out, I guarantee it!

Gem: You have eyes in the front of your head. What do you know. I see everything. There are demons in there that will grab my ankles and pull me under.

Me: Pleeeese....
Gem: You are embarrassing yourself by begging. Ain't going to happen.
Me: Sigh.

This can be a little nerve-wracking when we are on the trails. He will rush through it and push his way around the horse in front. Or he tries to take me through the bushes to avoid the mud all together; thank goodness I wear safety goggles when I trail ride!! So the first time DH's mom took us through a swampy area, my heart started to pound. I tried to tell her that Gem didn't like mud, but she told me to give him some rein, so he could lower his head and see the mud, sit square in the saddle and relax. I did as told. Gem was hesitant, but when he saw his fearless leader DH walk through it, he did too!! Now, I am not going to say that Gem was 100% calm walking through the mud…he still high-stepped trying not to get his feet dirty….but he did not RESIST going in the mud. Yay! Since that ride, DH’s mom has us going through muddy areas every ride and each time my anxiety has dissipated a little more and so has Gem’s. I am hoping that by the time winter rolls in, we will have beaten the horse-eating mud demons down completely!

I have not come off the trail rides unscathed, though. Monday, I suffered a trail riding injury...No, not as bad as the two times I was catapulted in the air by Gem! :-) There we were, in the forest, winding our way through a very narrow, rocky path. As we followed DH and his mom, I leaned to the right to avoid a branch, right into the stub of a broken branch on another tree. Gem was fast-walking down a slight incline at the time and the stub went into my upper arm and caught my blouse, ripping the sleeve open to my elbow. It hurt! I quickly checked to see if skin was broken (no), but a bruise was already welling up.

The bruise is now about an inch wide, 4 inches long and is a lovely purple black colour. Oh, well. Makes for interesting conversation. Cripes, I am going to miss that blouse though!!

What was I thinking....?