Capri's Day Out

It was March of last year that Rick and I started ponying River on the trails.  She has become a very solid riding horse, both in the arena and on the trails, and we're very happy with her.  Here we are looking at spring again, and now it's Capri's turn to learn to be a trail horse.  The weatherman promised us a nice day, and while he wasn't entirely correct (hey, what else is new?), it was a decent day for riding, so we loaded Capri in the trailer with April and Buddy.

Our usual trail-riding place surprised us with snow on the ground, but it wasn't very cold out, and the snow just added to the fun.

Capri was terrific for the entire two-hour ride, and Rick and I were very proud of her.  We've had a lot of wet weather recently, so the trails that weren't snowy were very muddy.

We sloshed through puddles and ponds, forded the high, raging stream, stepped over big logs, pushed through tight brush, stopped to cut branches and fallen trees, went up and down steep hillsides, and crossed four bridges without so much as a blink from Capri.

Capri was so good, you'd think she'd been out in the wilderness before...oh, wait, she's a mustang!  She has been out in the wilderness before!  Except, where Capri is from, the terrain is sagebrush, scrub pine and sand.  Here in western Washington State, we have fir and cedars, fern, moss, and mud, so for her to be happy and comfortable in the deep woods made us very happy too.

Rick and I always ride in big loops, never riding the same trail twice in the same day, and we finished today's ride by riding on a short stretch of road.

There weren't any cars, but one of the neighborhood horses decided to play a little prank on us by galloping towards his fence, then spinning and galloping away.  The sight of this blanketed beast bearing down on us nearly gave us all heart failure, but Capri pleased us again by cozying up to Rick and April for comfort, instead of trying to bolt away or do something foolish.

Isn't she just amazing?  We'll pony Capri a few more times, and keep riding her in the arena until she's rock-solid, and then she'll get to make her big trail debut under saddle.  We have a hunch she's going to be awesome!