Day after Christmas trail ride

I had a great day after Christmas trail ride today.  The thing is when you have kids there really is not much time nor money to spend on or with your beloved animals.  The good thing is they don't know the difference.  So none of my beasts got any special treatment for the holiday.  Good thing they are all spoiled rotten all year round! 

My daughter, Moonlight, Steady and I all when for a ride.  We ventured down the dreaded bike trail behind my house.  It has been confirmed that the county is clearing a horse trail to run along side the bike trail that will connect with an exsisting horse trail to make like 20 miles of trails out my back door!!!!!!!!!  Excited much?!  This has got to be the coolest thing to happen.  There are a few things I don't like about where I live but over all I love it and now a horse trail is getting put in my back yard, too cool!!  Ok I got off topic a bit.  I figured since we will probably be riding the trail a couple times a week come this summer when it is finished, no time better than now to start getting them used to it.  I have found I struggle a little more with Steady riding out from the house than when we trailer to trails since he knows where home is.  Add onto that his hightened energy level from the lack of work and cool temps.  Steady has an amazing mind and he has a great energy level but sometimes those two things can get misproportioned and his energy level out weighs his brain power.  That is when I feel like I am riding a jet propelled rocking horse that I am doing all I can to keep it from blasting off homeward bound or from shooting straight up into the air.  My daughter usually can keep the situation under control by keeping her horse in control.  It is like a good game of pick up sticks, no matter how good we are or careful, there are those close calls when I am concerned the whole thing is going to come tumbling down.  Either way it was nice to get out and ride on a trail in nearly January.  And riding with my daughter is always a treat, coolest kid ever.  Ok 1 of the 3 coolest kids ever!

So on the way home in my attempts to keep Steady at a walk I decided it was a nice time to practice our collected walk(since if I let my reins out he would walk faster and faster until we were trotting and so on until we were galloping at Prelim speed straight back to his beloved pasture)  It was actually pretty cool because that crazy energetic walk makes for some insane impulsion.  I have no doubt that I could have gotten very close to a piaffe out of him and I don't even know how to do it.  So I spent some time switching leg pressure and doing haunches in and shoulder in's, leg yeilds and a few steps of side passing.  I am telling you this horse has some insane prospective dressage talent.  But definitely an animal that has to be handled with care as to not push him to loosing it. 

And I don't have any photos or video of our ride today here is a super cute video of some fellow eventers have some wild rides.  I LOVE the horse who considers trying to avoid the water complex but jumping over the whole thing and then the last horse looks much like that rocket propelled rocking horse that I mentioned.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas with friends and family of the two and four legged kind.