Second outing of the season

Mandy and I headed out on the trails again on Sunday today with Lakota and Whinney.

It all went much the same as last time, but a little quieter. Lakota loaded up a little easier, no trembling, though she did try the option of going around the trailer a couple of times before going in, and danced around inside a little but, but not bad. Whinney, of course, jumped right in.

Unloaded, and of course they remembered all the grass, so we had a few grazing spots before entering the trail. When Lakota gets worried about something ,she stops dead in her tracks and stares until she decides its OK and drops her head. A few times when it was taking a while for her to decide, I would ask her to drop her head, then she would sigh, eyes get soft, and we'd continue along.

We did up the ante just a tiny bit, and I had her do some circling at a couple of spots along the trail where it was wider. Also did some lateral flexion, hip disengages, and forehand yields. We also worked on "whoa" and "back" from the ground, especially when she decided to get a little bargy. Each time, she would drop her head, sigh, and l/c (I think she was saying: "oh yeah, that's right, you're the one leading, sorry I forgot.")

Today we met two or three bicyclers, a guy walking his tiny little white dog, and two other horses. No concern or spooks about any of them, although Lakota was a little perturbed that I wouldn't let her approach the other horses to say Hello.

Whinney moseyed along, totally bored. She was already on this trail once, it was no longer interesting at all.