Flint's First Trail Ride With Friends

 I really love this quote by Sharon Ralls Lemon:

The essential joy of being with horses is that it brings us in contact with the rare elements of grace, beauty, spirit and freedom.

When you add riding with friends in the bush on a lovely day, it certainly does bring us in contact with all of those things.

This afternoon after rolling hay off the trailer into the paddock, we went over to saddle up our horses and go on a bush trail ride with friends. For Flint, this was a first - to be riding with not just one other horse, but with 5 other horses! Of course, they were all his paddock buddies so he knew them but he didn't know all the riders.

He stood opposite Sarge and I brushed him down before I saddled him up, noting he had a couple of mozzie bite lumps on his rump. It was a hive of activity as we all tended to our horses and found helmets that fit for the friends who didn't have one. Yay! Someone else with a small head my size.

After I mounted Flint, he was a bit distracted and unsure of where he should be facing. I turned him around in a circle a couple of times and that helped him to stay calm. One of the horses wanted to "Just go already" but being a standy, listened to his rider until we were all ready to go. 

We formed a single line with Flint somewhere in the middle and went down the driveway. Flint walked on the grass where he could but he did well. Apparently the horse behind us was up close to his tail but Flint didn't mind. We crossed the road and went down into the bush. Six horses clopped their way through the bush with six riders chatting and laughing,  as butterflies flitted about and we all kept our eyes peeled for any sign of the 'mysterious black panther', the 'white wallaby' or even an echidna. A kookaburra laughed from its vantage point in the old gum tree and we passed by a wombat hole.

Going up the hill, a couple of the horses found it hard work as they hadn't been ridden in a while. Flint courageously forged his way uphill and was happy when we were on level ground. I patted his neck and he turned to look at me. He had done so well! Towards the end of the ride, we stopped for a group photo and as we neared the road, we heard the roaring sound of a dirt-bike so we waited. Not a horse even flinched. 

I took a video of the ride, which you can see below. I was hesitant at first because this was Flint's first time in this bush and as we were with other horses and their riders it was a new 'environment' for him. As usual, Flint was fine. I did discover one 'flaw' he had... When we went to cross back over the road to go home, Lynne stayed on the road to usher us all over but Flint would not go past her at that time. It might be something we will have to work on during future rides.

It was fun riding with others and once again Flint was great!