You're a trail horse now, k?

A couple weeks ago Riding Bestie came up to meet The Snoot for the first time. I had to pick Hubby up at the airport in the early afternoon, but it left us with just enough time to ride ponies, go tack shopping, and stuff our fat faces with Taco Bell. You know, the usual, just in overdrive.

and run these puppy dogs into the ground of course.

Sarah got on Ralph who accompanied us on our first trail ride and who also gets turned out with Opie. We headed out as soon as we were mounted and I had strapped on my quarter sheet because it was freezing.

Opie bravely marched out the door in the lead and walked on a loose rein the whole time. He crossed the creek with a little leap before waiting on the other side for Ralph to catch up and cross too. Since it had been raining so much, I decided to reverse the path we had gone before and come up the smaller hill instead of go down it.

As we crossed into another field, we got too close to a pricker bush and my quarter sheet snagged on one of the branches. I reached back to try to tug it free as we kept walking, but it was well and truly stuck and the velcro parted from my lap and the whole thing slid over Opie's butt to dangle from the bush. I don't know if he was ever galloped in a quarter sheet during his time at the track, but regardless, he didn't so much as twitch the whole time.

purple breeches, purple butt cape, ten thousand layers under blue coat.

Obviously I was pleased with that, and then we rounded the corner and he spotted the horses turned out at the farm behind ours. He stopped in surprise and looked back which I noted in our last trail ride meant he was unsure and would appreciate a lead.

Ralph said no. Ralph said, "You think Opie is lazy? Watch this." Despite Sarah spanking him on the ass with a dressage whip, Ralph refused to so much as stick his nose in front of Opie. He commenced bucking into the side of Opie to show his displeasure at being asked to do such an impossible task. Opie, meanwhile, trotted two steps to get out of the way and carried on leading on the buckle.

Welcome to your new life, kid. You gotta do what you gotta do whether you want to do it or not.

including cooling out bareback. #roughlife

We finished by walking around the front field and over some of the logs while Opie screamed his brains out because his recently relocated bestie had seen him pass by on the trail ride and couldn't even, but the fight against incessant screaming is a post for another day.