Ride 60 - Solo on new road!

 Why are you looking at me?

I'm not trying to rub my halter off on the tree...

The weather was much nicer today so it was perfect for a ride.  After having my chances to ride ruined by Chrome getting tangled in the wire and then thunderstorms I decided to go today while my hubby was at work instead of waiting for him to get home (and having something come up again lol).  I was nervous at first, but I'm so glad I decided to just go for it!!

We went the opposite direction than we normally do because there are no horses directly by the road in that direction (not anymore anyway) so I figured he would be calmer and he was!  He was looky at things on the way out, but he didn't spook at anything.

Littering pisses me off!  It helps desensitize my horse though..  In the above picture there were crows fighting or something... one was hanging upside down from a limb making weird sounds!  Chrome was curious and hesitant, but that's all.

We have walked the first .61 of a mile in this direction in hand before (and ridden half of that), but Chrome has never been beyond that point before today.  The road in the picture above was my goal for this ride, but I totally forgot it hasn't been paved.... Chrome was choosing to walk in the grass as much as possible and was ouchy on gravel (probably from the rain and recent trim), so I decided not to go down this road.  The reason I wanted to go this way is because that is actually a STEEP hill in that picture (I was going to get off and walk) above and he really needs hill work... too bad it's gravel.  :(  So instead we continued straight on the pavement.  The funny thing is when I turned him around after taking the above picture he set off energetically in the direction we've never gone before!!!  He CHOSE to go without me having to tell him.  :D

We continued until the 1.1 mile mark and then turned around because some stupid kids were out driving around at high speeds in a jeep being stupid.... I'm glad they chose to go the opposite way, but I didn't want to meet them on their way back home, so that's why we turned around.  When we turned around Chrome immediately started lowering his head to the road, sniffing and snorting so I know he's still tense on the way out into new territory, but he's doing a much better job of not showing it lol.

At one point we came across a Styrofoam container that someone had thrown out and Chrome grabbed it in his teeth LOL!  I think he was hoping it had French fries in it.  :)

The thing that makes this totally uneventful ride so amazing is because it's the first time I've ridden Chrome out on the road all by myself and FORGOT HE IS A GREEN HORSE!!!!!!!!!  I was that relaxed!  It's funny because I looked down at his neck and thought for a second I was riding Lady, the Appaloosa mare I grew up with because they both had mohawks and their necks are the same color with all the white hair mixed in with the brown.  :D

Lady

Well rats I can't find a picture that shows her whole neck, but trust me hers is just as speckled as Chrome's but her ears aren't white since she isn't gray.  Above is the best picture I could find with me on her (and yes I didn't know any better when I was a kid that those are absolutely horrible bits, I switched her to a snaffle when I learned better, but she neck reined and never rode in any contact so it's alright).  You can't tell how much white she had in her coat in that picture though because she was already growing in her winter coat.  Oh well.  Trust me there are similarities and the fact that I looked down and for a fleeting moment thought it was Lady show how much calmer and more relaxed I've gotten.  :)  I was worried I would never be able to treat him like a trained, adult horse, but today gives me hope hehe.

Chrome's neck shot... his mane has a lot more white

 in it than Lady, but you get the idea.

We went a total of 2.13 miles in 50 minutes all at a walk except for one very short trot where I was just checking that he wasn't lame (he isn't).  So very happy with our successful ride!

P.S. I forgot to mention that when we were almost home (within sight of our gate) he did scoot when a little dog barked behind him because he didn't see it.  He only scooted one step and then relaxed immediately so it was barely a spook hehe.