Riding at Upper Pond

I had planned to do an adventure ride today with Susie and Barbara. But that was not to be. I stayed home to work on the barn with Fred. When Fred left for work this afternoon, I still wanted to ride but it was getting kind of late to head out on a trail ride. So, I called MaryJo and we agreed to meet over at Upper Pond to ride in the indoor arena. So, I loaded up Luke and headed over.

I arrived before MaryJo. I unloaded Luke and groomed and tacked him up at the trailer. Luke was curious and alert when he came off the trailer but quiet and well behaved. While I was grooming him, MaryJo arrived. She had brought her 7 year old Mustang gelding. He is not used to standing tied at the trailer to be tacked up so he was a bit fidgety. We went into the arena and I mounted right up on Luke. Once again Luke was curious but still quiet. Just after I had mounted up, I heard a commotion behind me then suddenly MaryJo's horse went running by. I turned around and MaryJo is sitting on the ground holding her leg. Her horse had gotten excited and pulled away from her. When he spun around to run, he kicked out and nailed MaryJo in the shin. OUCH! She was ok but her leg immediately started swelling and showing a good bruise. She limped over to the mounting block to examine the damage and her horse slowly walked up to her and put his nose on her. Obviously aware of and now sorry that he had hurt her. He was very quiet and well behaved after that.

We had a wonderful ride. I don't usually enjoy riding in an arena that much but with Luke it's actually fun. He is so well trained and it was fun discovering all that he knows. He is so good at his transitions. Walk to trot, walk to canter, canter to whoa. Learned you better be ready when you tell him to whoa as he will stop on a dime from any gait. He will back up lovely just by shifting your weight. He is feather light with both leg and rein cues. We attempted one flying lead chance. We didn't quite manage it as Luke broke to a few strides of trotting before changing leads but I can assure you it was my less them perfect cues and not any lack of training or ability on Lukes part. And he seemed so willing to work in the arena. So, I had a really nice evening with him and it was nice to see MaryJo.