The rollercoaster

Scarlett and Rhino weren't the only horses I said goodbye to last month. Therese's two good horses, Delilah and Thunder, also moved on to greener pastures.

The dissolution of our friend group was hard enough, but after they were gone, I was left with a new problem.

How was I supposed to get Olive down the trail without the steadying presence of Scarlett,

Delilah...

and especially Thunder?

Almost from the moment she stepped off the trailer, Thunder has served as Olive's emotional support horse. What was I going to do without him?

Well, it hasn't been easy, but we're figuring it out.

Karen's new boy, Roy, has a lot of miles, but not a lot of confidence. He's fine if he has another horse to follow, and Olive is fine except for when she's not. 

It's been a struggle getting these two down the trail together. A couple days were so bad, I spent more time leading Olive than actually riding her.

I started thinking maybe she wasn't suited for this job.

Maybe she doesn't want to be a trail horse.

Maybe I'm not a good enough rider to help her through this stage.

Those were tough rides. It was tempting to give up and just ride in the ring until we could find someone to give us a lead. We didn't do that, though. Instead, we just kept going out and trying again, and slowly but surely, every ride got a little bit better.

It's been a more than a month since we started riding out just the two of us. In that time, Olive has learned to cross the creek and is no longer over reacting to bikes.

I guess we didn't need those training wheels after all. My little girl is growing up.

Yesterday, Karen and I went for a ride with Diana and her boy, Guaranteed. Both Olive and Roy were perfect. Not low standards perfect, but actually perfect.

And just like that, all the worry and despair evaporated. We can do this. In fact, we are doing this. Olive is a trail horse. We are a team. 

I have no idea what the future holds for us, but I suspect it will include many happy miles with our friends, Karen and Roy.