My first three rides of spring

So I've officially had three rides (+ one lesson) so far this spring.  Not a huge number by any stretch of the imagination, but it sure feels good to be out riding again.  I have three more rides planned for this week as well. I'm going to aim to bump that up to 4 rides + a lesson a week, as the spring progresses, if all goes well.

I have to admit that Rusty tricked me with a bit of attitude on my first ride.  We went out with a girl at the barn who does endurance and competitive trail. She09- has a cute feisty arab and they do a lot of mileage.  I knew Rusty wasn't in shape to keep up, but she slowed down to accomodate us.    We tried to trot the 1/2 mile or so back up the laneway and Rusty started acting up - going sideways, bucking, etc.  What a goof!

I wasn't 100% sure of things, so I didn't push the issue. I tried trotting a couple more times and got the same result.  Bucking. Not my favourite thing. Rusty's buck is pretty tame by most standards, but still not his best behaviour.  I ended up walking the rest of the ride, vowing to work on his attitude when trotting with another horse beside him.

Fast forward a couple of days and I had realized that I had been tricked by my horse.  He bucks, we walk. Rusty wins.  D'oh!

Once I realized that, I knew I could give him a bit of a smack with the crop next time we trotted and he would be fine.   The endurance girl and I went out again.  This time we had a very successful ride.  We covered about 3 miles at a walk/slow trot, with only one tiny half-hearted buck!  A-ha! I win!  :-D

By coincidence, endurance girl and I met up at the barn on Sunday and went out for an even longer ride. She covered 3-4 miles on her own while I tacked up, we did about 4.5 miles together and she did another 4 on her own when Rusty got tired.  We did lots of trotting and some cantering on the neighbouring farm's track (which is a total blast).  

So, without further ado, here are a few pictures...

Rusty and another mare were snoozing in the sun when I arrived:

I quietly tiptoed out to see if he would let me pet him while sleeping...  This is a bit of a novelty for me - I'm only at the barn for a couple of hours at a time,  so I rarely catch him having a nap...  He sat up and let me take his picture.

I went around beside his head and sat in the hay.  He sighed and flaked out again, but wouldn't let me touch his head.

After 20 minutes or so, I was mean and got him up to head into the barn.  We got all tacked up with his new breastcollar and we were ready to go:

Endurance girl came by on her loop to pick us up.  Rusty is looking at them here.  Not a bad picture from my little iphone...

This is a picture on an old laneway on a farm down the road.  On the right is a cool creepy abandoned house. The horses walked right by with no problem, but the arab mare kept her eye on the place the whole time...

Rusty got pretty tired on me at the 4 mile mark - his head dropped and his pace slowed. I have to be careful to try and condition him better before we attempt more distance, since he had alot of time off this winter.  And he's old.  :-)  It does motivate him to keep up with his little arab friend though - she is a super fast walker, so he has to work hard even at the walk.

I'm really excited about riding - there are a few new people at the barn who are more confident riders, so I expect to be pushing my boundaries alot this year!