Proud of Poptart

Poptart and I had an awesome 2nd ride of the New Year today!  We rode the Bucktail/Capon trail with our new riding partner, Wendy and her wonderful Rocky Mountain Horse, Tivo. Each trail ride I have been seeing noticeable improvements in Poptart and today was no exception.  He is loading better in the trailer, or should I say staying in the trailer better!  He goes in fine routinely but has a small habit of zooming out backwards. He mainly does this when he is by himself, with a buddy in the trailer he is much more confident.  We have been playing with staying in for a slow count of 5-10 seconds (and building up from there) and not backing out until asked! It is working quite well and he is learning to be more relaxed while trailering by himself, maybe someday he will even be able to eat his alfalfa hay when by himself too!

When we arrived at Bucktail, Wendy was already parked and starting to tack up.  I happened to park and unload Poptart where he was not able to see that there was another horse nearby.  This is the first time I have trailered him out and tacked him up without a riding buddy in sight.  He was alert but very well behaved for saddling (and girthing!)  And when returning from the trail Poptart was very content to leave his Tivo, his new best friend, and untack at his own trailer, he also loaded (and stayed loaded) very well.  These small steps of progress are starting to add up and I am getting excited about my future endurance partner!!

I am also so proud of how he behaved on the trail.  Large parts of the trail were very washed out from a recent hard rain and he handled difficult ascents, descents, boulder climbs, downed trees, and slick, challenging footing like an experienced and confident trail horse.  Poptart even lead down a steep 3' slope into a rocky stream when Tivo thought a different route might be more appropriate. Once again I am so proud of Poptart today and so excited about our future :)