Misty Blue Lucky Star

 

 

 

Our First Ride away from Home                8/23/09

 

A dream come true.  No other way to describe it.  Since early summer of 2003, when I first clicked on that baby photo of  the colt that was to become Sir Valiant Too.  that is how long I have been waiting to successfully ride my big blue hoss.

 

we got 'er done this weekend.  we went on an organized trail ride with the Poor Peoples Riding Club at the Petersburg National Battlefield.

 

Since I have had her home, I have had some serious head games inside the ironclad repository of useless knowledge.  Getting on her and being tossed leisurely into the side of the barn weighed heavy on me.  Getting on was my only mental handicap.  Once aboard, I was mentally okay.  For the first few rides, Jim and Colleen Leahy came over and supervised.  Finally I decided that if I was not going to man up and ride this horse then I needed to give her to some little girl who would.  Not ready to give her up I got on and rode.  We have been riding around the farm.  Tickled to death with her.

 

Good brakes.  Almost power steering.  Neck Reining.  Yields to leg pressure.  Backs.  Turns on the forehand.  Turns on the Hindquarter.  Side passes.  Stands quietly to be mounted and when halted.   Can not say enough good things about how well Donnie Gill trained her.  Will, and have, recommended him highly.

 

We have done a lot of ground work and despooking exercises.  Done a lot of ponying with Perkins which is a story in itself.  Short version is the very alpha mare very easily dominated Perkins and asserted her leadership.  She has yet to kick him or even nip him, not through lack of trying, but through my intervention.  Anyhow he does not love having her close to him but he trust me enough to let me pony her.

 

Last week we even went to a little local farm show and rode around the grounds just for the exposure and excitement.  Did things like park under the loudspeaker and park by the ring and ride through he parking and trailer area.  It must have paid off.

 

Sunday, 8/23/2009 we went on our first organized trail ride with the Poor Peoples Riding Club.  I have been with them before on Perkins but this was Star Baby's first outing.

 

I was going to take them both and at the very least pony her.  But mid week I heard from my son, Jessee that he was able to go with me.  Plans were made for him to ride Perkins and ride with me and the big blue beauty.  Guess I need to stop calling her that as everyone else refers to her as that big beautiful gray horse.

 

Jessee and I had not ridden together in decades.  Riding with him and riding my horse had the adrenaline pretty high.

I met Jessee at 7:30 in the morning and we drove down to the ride.  Jessee had never met Perkins and took me at my word that he was a puppy dog and a good safe ride that he could easily handle which all proved to be true.

 

We groomed and brushed and fussed and tacked.  finally I said let's get going.  Our plan was to ride together just the two of us and keep our own pace whatever it was.

 

I led star Baby up to a big Pine stump and used it as a mounting block and when my butt hit the saddle I heard Jim Leahy cheer from across the parking lot.  star Baby stood quietly for me to mount but then had a moment of young horse confusion.  She had no idea what to do next and I recalled Donnie telling me that she was going to look for leadership from me so I gave her some direction and we were off.  She did a little young horse restlessness and confusion over stepping on the pavement, but she listened to my direction.  Meanwhile Jessee was mounting Perkins and in the process had a wardrobe malfunction.  He lost the seat or his jeans and got to ride with air conditioning for the whole ride.

 

We went out with a little bit of prancyness and looky see stuff but she quickly settled down and fell into line with Perkins.

 

The park was beautiful and the trails mostly wooded.  The weather was excellent.  Sunny and not too hot with a breeze.  We just rode along without a clue of where we were going.  Neither one of us had ever been there and no map or anything.  Have a perfectly good GPS unit in my backpack which is now in the Van and not on the horse.

 

Excellent training day.  Hikers, bikers, riders going both ways, wooden bridges both with rails and without.  Went through the trees some, so brush and branches were not a problem.

 

I could not have been more proud of my pony.  She even led the way in some spots.  She did exhibit some tenderness to the gravel on the trails.  Like Perkins she wanted to crowd the edge of the path in search of softer footing. 

 

In a few areas we did a little trotting.  Jessee advised me that I was correct in my assessment of the smoothness of  Perkin's trot.  With his newly modified trouser wear, he was perfectly happy to just walk along.

 

A couple of groups passed us at higher speed.  Our chargers at first wanted to go along with the others but both handled being left behind well.  Alone Star Baby may have wanted to go a little bit more but she was content to go along with Perkins.  No spooks.  In fact Perkins spooked at riders coming from behind twice but Star Baby had seen them and told me they were coming.

 

After a couple of hours we stopped seeing other riders.  We forged on.  Finally we saw another group and they said we were half way around the loop.   Actually we were more than half way but it was a long loop and a very nice ride.  A while later we passed several more group going the other way.  Then for a long time we did not see anyone.   Wondering if we had taken  a wrong turn somewhere, I gave a yell.  Some of you know that I can make myself heard.  Star baby was unfazed but she was getting tired.  Perkins was steaming along without even sweating hard.  The Arthritis in my hip was starting to complain. 

 

Fifteen or twenty minutes later I yelled again.  No audible response.  About ten minutes later a lady named Julie  on a pretty little appendix buckskin horse, appeared on the trail ahead of us and asked if we were okay.  I said, "Yeah just don't have a clue about where we are."  She led us back to the parking area.  We would have found it but we thought we had missed it already.

 

We untacked and gave the horses some hay and joined the others for lunch.

 

I can not speak for anyone else but I had a grand time and I wish to thank all involved.

 

There are photos of the complete event at my webshots album.

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/574299301atmEiQ

 

Jessee is the guy who is wearing the apron to cover his wardrobe malfunction.