Gus's Day at the Track

We've had some seriously gorgeous spring weather in Seattle (interspersed among the rain..), to the point that I just can't not ride.  I just can't.

I can deal with not riding Prairie, but I figure Gus can trundle me around safely, and god dammit I want to ride.

So, I did.

I threw on my "thermal maternity breeches," which oddly... fit ok.  They are getting tight across the tummy, but still perfectly acceptable through the hip/thigh and headed to the barn.  

28 weeks, *barely* still in breeches.

Gus and I started in the indoor just walking and trotting around.  His RF feels a bit worse than normal, but it's so hard to tell what is body stiffness and what is leg lameness.  He tends to feel more even and supple with regular (light) work, so it's not too surprising that he feels lurchy and uneven after a few months mostly off.  My fab vet who does all the bodywork is currently in Florida, but when she's back, Gus is getting a once over from her which will hopefully help a bit.

After about 15 minutes of hacking around (and some light lateral work to supple the big guy up) we headed outside to stroll around on the track.  

I had previously led the man around it a few times from the ground, but we hadn't explored it with me on his back yet, and he is decidedly less confident about things when you're on him.  He doesn't spook, and he doesn't spin or misbehave- but he does... stop.  he likes to stop and stare at things and evaluate his world.

So, we got about halfway around the track (walking away from the barn/pastures/herd) and he just stopped.

I think his objection had more to do with leaving the safety of the other horses because he wasn't looking at anyway in particular he just decided we had gone far enough and we should stop and probably go home.

Since he wasn't being naughty, we just stood there for a few moments, then turned around and went the other way around the track.  At almost exactly the same point on the other side, his herd radar kicked in and we stopped again.  

Again, I just stood there, patted him, then eventually turned around again.

This time Gus just marched the whole way round (a bit more energetically when we turned home) and was perfectly happy about it.  We made a few more laps on a nice loose rein then called it a day.  

Go Gus, go!

I really love the idea of using the track for most of our rides (weather permitting) since it gives us longer straightaways where I don't have to burden his RF with too many turns.  Of course, I'm not sure how many rides we'll log before baby-kins arrives, but we'll see.  It did my soul good to spend some time on his back, and physically, I felt totally fine - so that's nice too.  

Baby woke up as soon as I got off and started kicking up a storm, so maybe she already prefers to be up on a pony's back.  (once can only hope!).