The rollercoaster, part two

Between Olive's sore feet, bad weather, work and way too much family drama, I haven't been spending a lot of time in the saddle. It's okay, but also, I miss riding.

This week, the stars aligned. Olive's feet are better, the weather is unseasonably warm and I've had the last two days off of work. Yesterday, Karen and I saddled up and headed down the trail.

We didn't get very far. After so much time off, Olive and Roy were quite sure they could not possibly leave the barn. It was like last spring all over again.

When it became clear that this was going to be a walk rather than a ride, I decided to make the most of it. I led Olive through all her biggest problem areas. It took forever, but we were patient and eventually both horses walked past the house, the gate, the goats, the hill, the fence and everything else. It wasn't fun, but it was productive.

Still, neither one of us wanted to do that again. To that end, we co-opted the barn owner, Linda, and her her good mare, Muscatella, into accompanying us today.

Linda chose to take us to on a set of trails that Olive and Roy have only seen once before.

There were a lot of urban challenges - bikes, factories, trains, bridges and freeway overpasses - basically, all the stuff Olive is really bad at.

Except today, the horse who couldn't even walk down the driveway yesterday handled all of that like a pro.

I am not complaining, but I will never understand.

This was such a good ride, and more importantly, such a needed ride.

Snow is in the forecast, and I am working four of the next five days. I suspect it will be awhile before Olive and Roy go down the trail together again. That's okay. For now, I am basking in the glow of today's good ride.