Hooray!!!!

I took Boomer on the barn trail ride this Saturday and he was great! I was happy to find that when you get enough horses (16) together, Boomer doesn't look half bad! Really though, he was a very well behaved gentleman! He thought about balking on the road once, but was easily persuaded to keep going and once on the way back I kicked my foot out of the stirrup to stretch and he jumped forward. Other than those two minor issues, he was perfect! Which, with horses, is pretty darn perfect!

In other news, I have been working on trailer loading and that is going well. I had help backing the trailer up to the round pen and my plan was to work Boomer at the canter and occasionally ask him to load, if he didn't I sent him off again. Well, 30 minutes and 8 tries later, he finally got in. I was afraid he was going to run himself to death before he got in. I have never seen him to sweaty. I knew I couldn't give up, but I was starting to worry that I was being cruel!!! But, he got in on the eighth try and stood for about 30 seconds, then jumped out, so I ran him around more for about a minute and asked him to load again and he did right away, then he just stood there. He wasn't getting out of that trailer for anything! So, I let him cool down and relax in there for about 15 minutes. Then I unloaded and loaded him a few more times and called it a day. The next day I parked the trailer near the round pen and tried again, he hopped right in and out no problem. Today we went for a trail ride at clinton lake with a few others and he was good loading at first, then we decided to unload him and put another horse in first, after that Boomer wasn't sure he wanted back in the back compartment. We had to use the panels to get him in, but I really feel that it was a space issue, he had his saddle on and there was another horse in the front, so I don't think he knew he could fit. Once we were loading up to come home, he went in like a gentleman. So, hooray for that!

Dripping with sweat!

This was the last loading attempt. He was so great! See how much easier it is to be in the trailer than running around working hard!!!!

This morning John and I met the ladies out at the barn for a trail ride at Clinton Lake from the dam. The barn manager let John borrow her TWH gelding, Taz. He was great! John had a blast with him! John said his gait was just so smooth that he couldn't help but smile! Taz is a chestnut gelding who is 19 years old and about 16.2hh. He and John were great together! His owner is having knee surgery in a week and told us that we could borrow him anytime since she can't ride for 6-8 weeks!

The trail ride was so much fun! We were out for 2-3 hours and the trail was pretty challenging. Bonnie and her horse Ginger (24 years) know that area like it is home, so we were trail blazing part of the time! We also went to the beach and walked along the water for a while! That was so much fun! I was so proud of Boomer for going in the water! The other horses were Ella- the cutest halflinger mare you have ever seen, Cowboy- a 3 year old paint, and K-Lar- a 19 year old arab gelding.

We really had a blast and I am so happy with how well Boomer is doing with his trailer and riding training! I think in the next few weeks I want to work on more trotting and maybe cantering around the big hill. I am a little nervous cantering out in the open, but I think we may be ready in a week or two!