Autumn Trail Ride

We went on a trail ride under tall pine trees with thick soft beds of needles everywhere. It was much like where I grew up. It was so quiet. We could hear a barred owl hooting.

 It was bright shade, so Molly wasn't scared. We were walking easily and together. Also, we were following C. and her horse Koda. I think that they trail ride with Molly and me for ballast.  Koda is extremely well trained, and Molly is pretty steady, so it works out.

Photo of oil sketch by Frederic Edwin Church, American, 1826-1900

Today Koda jumped a mud puddle and Molly lurched it, which was interesting. It was when we were turning around at another point that Molly found herself sinking into some mud.

We have practiced long and hard with puddles, which she assiduously avoids with side steps, back ups, and every other contortion possible before eventually going through them.

So I nearly panicked myself when I realized the mud was so deep she was sinking. We tried backing up but she couldn't push off from the front. Before I knew it we had turned together and managed to pull out that way. It was a triumph! I was so proud of her!

I'm so excited when we meet a challenge, and I always wonder how it will pay off in the future as well as what has lead up to it happening at all. How many things do we do now that we wouldn't have been able to do a year ago? Molly was a farm mule for perhaps 18 years, and she was not really interested in starting riding lessons with me. Even so, I pressed on. When we first started riding outside of lessons, without my teacher, we rode just around her pasture (with the gate closed!). I was really nervous, but in fact it was a very safe way to get started.