Friday, April 2, 2010

Bella's first trail ride

Today was quite momentous. Today was Bella's first trail ride.

Don't remember Bella? Well, she's the star of this film:



I've been pretty nervous about mixing dogs and horses, especially after my last escapade during which I had a heart attack -- and no one was even out of their stalls.

This post on 7MSN had me nervous too. Which just goes to show the power of a good re-enactment.

Even my farrier told me on numerous occassions - dogs and horses are NOT a good idea.

Yet our BO has her dog tag along all the time. So we decided to try it out.

We were excited to take Bella with us. Alone. The other dogs were at Grammy's with the kids and Bella is a very good hiking dog.

But would she stay safe? Would she understand how close was safe and how not to get under foot? Er, hoof?

She did fantastic. I was so proud of her.

And both Lily and Cibolo did fantastic. Cibolo was in his quiet space and on the trail he was just perfect, only one brief pause before a steep incline.


A great day. I can't wait to ride again! And I'm taking our dog too (but this time I'll carry water for her. We had to turn back early because we were worried she was too thirsty).

Tomorrow I'm going to take picture of some new horses - many are at the barn either for sale or for training. Smokey, who is for sale and is my dream horse even though he's just 4 and green as can be, is a buckskin Morgan, btw. Someone had asked about him after my last picture of him...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great day for all - people, horses and dog! When I got my GSD, I had hoped to train her to run along with me on the trail when I rode, but it turned out she has a heart defect, so no running for her :(

Fantastyk Voyager said...

My Dalmation used to always go along with me when I'd ride. I miss him.

jc said...

It's great to have a dog with you. My Pointer is too old and deaf now but she used to love it.

Unknown said...

With horses, anything you add to the mix can increase the potential for problems. Glad you are being careful and having a good time while you are at it! Me, personally? I avoid dogs with Janow because he has been known to attack them. The owners can get QUITE upset!!

Wolfie said...

There are two large dogs at the stables where I board. The horses don't mind them at all. In fact, one of the dogs has a routine with the horses. She sits in front of a horse and the horse will lick and mouth her - sort of a bath with massage! She will move from one horse to the next. So cute.