Mary-Jo wanted to go trail riding again and our schedules happened to work out that we could ride together this afternoon. She called me in the morning and said Brooke and Meagan wanted to ride also if my mare Marie was available for Brooke to use. I was thrilled to have someone to ride Marie so Mary-Jo said she would come and pick up Luke and Marie and we would ride from Upper Pond. Mary-Joe is now boarding (self care) her gelding Arthur there.
Mary-Jo picked me up around.......... well.....I'm not quite sure what time she got to my house...... around 2:00 I think. We put Marie and Luke's tack in her truck then wrangled up Luke and Marie and loaded them up. Marie was so happy to be going and not getting left behind again. I saddled Luke and Marie while Brooked got Ljoma ready for Meagan who had not arrived yet. I just bought a custom made mohair girth for Luke made by my friend Amy Beem. It is so nice and I got to try it out today. I wanted a better girth then the one I've been using for the 50 mile ride. Meagan arrived before we finished tacking up so we were soon ready to go. Mary-Jo's Mustang gelding Arthur is new to trail riding so she wanted to ride in the outdoor arena for a few minutes first before heading out on the trail. We all got on in the arena, made sure stirrups were properly adjusted and girths tightened. Arthur was good so Mary-Jo was soon ready to head out on the trail. We were all determined to open the arena gate from our equines. Meagan tried first on Ljoma and didn't make it. The gate was not latched but it had to be lifted up a little before it would swing open. Brooke then tried with Marie and didn't make it either. Mostly because you had to lean over a bit to lift the gate and she didn't want Marie's saddle to slide sideways. I then tried with Luke. It took us a few tries but I finally did manage it.
We made quite a few circuits of the trails behind Upper Pond. Arthur was very, very good. He followed for a while, then he went up front and led. He didn't fuss at all about walking through water. We kept it to mostly a walk but did do some trotting also. We even walked them into the pond and Arthur seemed to enjoy it. Marie was walking out better than usual today and we just all had a very nice relaxing ride. Luke, Marie and Ljoma (an Icelandic) were very good mentors for Arthur.
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