Best. Horse. Ever.

Hauled the horse to Lake copan and after a parking mishap (no livestock in the park!!!) and a backing up/turning around mishap (Oh, I think that was the turn back there) we got parked at the trail head. I had read that the trail was only about 3 miles long. I had heard from our hay supplier that the trail was challenging. We didn't know what to expect. We started out and the first 1/4 mile or so is just a track along the road with lots of mud and a dead deer. You then come to a drainage ditch which was about 15 feet down, across running water, and 15 feet up. The down was much steeper than the up and I led the horse across. He was surprisingly fine with all of that. Turns out that was one of the easy challenges along the trail! It was single track the whole way with more water crossings than I could count. Boomer is now a champ at water crossings, mud crossings, and muddy water-with-leaves-over-it crossings. There were a few areas that were solid rocks straight down to water, then back up rocks. I was amazed at Boomer. Once he locked on and chose his path, all I did was hold the reins in one hand and his mane in the other and he jumped up, climbed up, or ran up every obstacle we encountered! He never refused anything. We both had a blast! Some of those climbs were steep enough that I was totally over his neck on the way up. I also had to stop and readjust my saddle at one point. It had slipped back about 6 inches! Needless to say, I tightened the girth an extra hole and made a mental note to use a breast collar next time! The rest of the trail was fairly hilly and wound through heavy woods. There were a few logs to hop over, which was fun! There was a pretty good stretch on the way back where Boomer just totally got into the groove. He was power walking on a loose rein, not trying to trot, pull, or jig. He had this huge powerful stride and he was bobbing his head with every stride. His reins were swinging and I could hear him lightly chomping his teeth with every head bob. He was so happy and so was I! I really tried to let Boomer choose how to attack the obstacles and he made me proud. He locked on and got the job done with nerves of steel. He always liked to trot or canter off after a big climb.

He drank a little when we got back to the trailer and ate about half of his soaked beet pulp before we headed home. He is great about the trailer and had no issues the whole time. He did get excited and stomp around when we pulled in the driveway.

The camera had a dead battery, but no worries- we will get pictures and video next time!

Yesterday's ride was pretty much awesome. I had no complaints about the horses behavior. He was great. I had a grin on my face the whole time and couldn't help but laugh gleefully as he took on the challenges of the trail!