Conditioning Ride in West Bowdoin

We finally got a break from the humidity today so I really wanted to get in a good conditioning ride. My friend Susie wanted to ride but originally planned to ride earlier in the day. Neither Brooke or Cierra could go until around 2:00. After a few phone calls, Susie decided she could ride later so we would be able to trailer out and do a really good ride. Our plan to ride at 2:00 didn't go quite as planned as Brooks vet appointment ended up later than planned. But, Susie was patient and waited for us. I took Luke and went over to Upper Pond to pick up Tinkerbell. Susie was picking up Marie from my house and we were meeting over in West Bowdoin. When everyone was finally ready, Tinkerbell loaded into my trailer like a champ. Though it's unloading that causes her the most anxiety. Once over in West Bowdoin, we were very pleased that Tink unloaded with no problem. She was nervous as she got a bit sweaty in the trailer. But she was a good as can be and backed out nice and quiet. We got tacked up and headed out. We took the easy access trail to the pipe line as Cierra didn't feel quite ready to take the steep descent to do the stream crossing on the pipeline. Tinkerbell is still new to this whole trail riding thing but she had been getting quite an education recently and she has been doing fantastic. She is a wonderful, level headed mare despite only being 6 years old. We did one loop trail to warm them all up and then picked up a trot. Luke and the horses did great. They all settled into a good working trot and all of them went very nicely together. We kept up as steady a trot as we could for 45 minutes. We had to slow down a few times but kept the pace pretty steady overall. We did all the loops close to the pipe line than headed out through the gravel pit. We'd done one canter but Susie and I were in the lead and we were doing a very collected slow canter. Neither Tinkerbell or Marie can collect and canter that slow so they only trotted faster. So, once in the gravel pit, we let Cierra and Brooke take the lead so they could get a little canter in. The were going along well with Brooke in the lead and just as we were coming to the end of the gravel pit, I see Marie start to hesitate and suddenly a dirt bike popped out of the trail ahead into the gravel pit. He was not traveling all that fast so we had not heard him coming. It startled Marie, who was not happy about being in the lead to begin with and she did a quick 90 degree spin. Brooke would have been fine but Marie's saddle slipped. So, there was no chance for her to save it and she had to let herself drop to the ground. She did keep a death grip on the reins and kept control of Marie. I was torn between watching so see if Brooke was ok and watching to see if Cierra and Tinkerbell were ok. Tinkerbell didn't react to any of it. She just stopped and watched quietly. GOOD GIRL! The dirt bike rider stopped immediately and was very worried. He apologized many times but he had not done anything wrong and we told him so. And if Marie's saddle had not slipped, it would not have been an issue. Brooke was ok as we were in sand. She tightened her girth, hopped back on and we continued our ride. 

We took the Witches House trail and went around to the Allen's farm. Some of this trail is rocky and Tinkerbell was uncomfortable with this as her back feet are bare. We slowed down and went easy. When we came out to the road, we decided to ride down the road to the trail by the day care center as the trail we had planned to take would have more rocky sections. The road had a nice sandy shoulder that would be more comfortable for Tinkerbell. It is a quite road so we weren't worried. We have a few cars come by us but Tinkerbell didn't care at all. Tinkerbell drank on the trail today which made Cierra very happy. Once back on the trail, we did a little more trotting then walked the last bit to let them cool down. Cierra decided to go ahead and try the steep descent and stream crossing on the pipe line. Tinkerbell handled it like a Pro. We were all so proud of them both! Once back at the trailer we sponged them all off thoroughly. Susie took their pulses with her new hand held unit. Luke was 38! Fantastic for him! Marie was 56. Not unusual for her.  Susie said Bazeyn was 44 and Tink was 51. She was a little lower when I'd checked it a few minutes previously but when Susie came over, Tink had gone on alert due to some kids making noise across the road. It was a very good ride and Tink was definitely a superstar! Tink loaded into my trailer again with no trouble and I delivered her and Cierra back to Upper Pond safe and sound.