We took a big group to the Redmond Watershed today for a trail ride: Skittles, Skye, Lola and Debi’s horse Summer. It was good to go out on a busy trail day so we could see more people, bikes and other horses. All the horses did very well. Skittles was a great leader and happy to stay up front. She crossed bridges and if she was shy about something she took just a little encouragement to go forward and approach it. Lola was ridden by our volunteer rider, Casey, who had a more difficult time taking the lead than she had had when I rode her the previous two times. Maybe she was a little tired or it just wasn’t a day she wanted to lead. But she was still well behaved and was easy for Casey to control in all gaits. Skye did very well with SAFE Executive Director Bonnie aboard. It was Skye’s third trail ride and Bonnie’s first ride on her. She was very well behaved and is proving to be a good trail horse. At one point, Skittles and Lola even were asked to split off from the other two horses and Skye stood well with Summer as the others trotted and cantered away up the hill.

I have to admit I was having way too much fun on Skittles and felt very comfortable and easy on her. She is such a special mare and showed great confidence in herself and trust in what I asked of her. Although I would always ride on the trails with a buddy, I think Skittles would be just as happy out riding alone as she was with others. You can’t say this about many horses! We did learn that one thing she doesn’t like is having another horse get too close to her hind end. She was fine most of the time but did turn and give the mean face to Skye when she was coming up to her and one time gave quiet a good kick towards Skye. It was easily managed, and no one got kicked, but it’s something her future riders should be aware of in the future. All three SAFE mares did very well for this outing and I would say they all will bring their future owners many years of enjoyment on the trails.