Riding with Susie

Susie and I mad plans to ride today. It was a cold day so we decided to ride at around 1:00 pm. Our original plan was for me to pick her up and to ride in Phippsburg. But, the dirt roads there are not plowed in the winter and I was afraid there would still be some snow and ice. I don't have any shoes on either Louie or Marie and didn't want to trailer all the way there and not be able to ride. So, I called Susie and we changed our plans and decided to ride in Monmouth. I didn't know if all the dirt roads we ride there were plowed though the winter but I knew a lot of them were. So, Susie picked Louie and me up at noon time.

Susie's trailer is a slant load but has a very high step up. Much higher then mine. My trailer is also a slant load but Louie is always loaded up in the first stall. Today he'd be in the back stall. He did protest at first about loading but it didn't last long. We parked along the side of a dead end dirt road. Both Louie and Susie's horse Spark were quite while being tacked up. Louie dropped several loads of diarrhea though so I knew he was a little bit nervous. And he didn't stand still right away for me to mount.

Susie's horse is a long legged Arabian horse she uses for endurance riding. At first Louie was hot to go and was keeping right up with Spark. But, today's ride had some hills. Something Louie hasn't been doing though the winter as we've only ridden in the indoor arena. So, it didn't take long for the wind to go out of Louie's sails. But, he still did great. He never shut down or quit on me at all. He did everything I asked him and did it all with good forward motion. Just not quite as fast as Spark. I did not ask for any extended trots and mostly let him choose the speed of each qait I requested. I know it's going to take time to condition Louie especially considering his soft tissue injury last year and the fact that he has never been conditioned before. And Louie self loaded into the trailer for the ride home without even a hint of hesitation.

So, while the jury is definitely still out if Louie will have the stuff to do distance riding, I was still very pleased with how he did today. It's the fastest I've ever ridden him and on harder terrain then he's been doing.