Group Trail Ride (edited)

EDIT: I published this yesterday but not all my changes were saved. If you previously read this post and wondered why it was written poorly and/or didn't make sense, this is (hopefully) why. Let's hope the changes work this time!

I signed up for a group trail ride this Sat. This ride is popular because they open up the wilderness preserve a few times a year for a guided trail. The trails that are usually blocked with fences are opened briefly for guided tours. Why they offer guided tours a couple times a year, yet won't let us ride on it all the time is beyond me.

 

Anyway there were 15 of us total, a very new experience for Calvin. In the beginning, Calvin was excited and pretty amped up to get going, prancing in place and more alert. Once we headed out, he started to calm down and walk nicely. This was a great experience for him because it got him used to having lots of horses near him. He could hear them way in front and also way behind us and out of sight. I could tell that he was listening all around and would stare off in the distance, trying to understand what was going on. He was very well behaved on trail and preferred to stay in the middle. This surprised me as I figured he'd rather go in the back and walk slower. I told someone this and they mentioned that in the wild, the ones in the back were more likely to get caught by a predator, so the middle was the safest place. This made sense to me.

 Can't you see how the horses are ruining the environment? (sarcasm). Not to mention these are fire roads that the police patrol in cars and on horseback.

Going uphill means that it's harder to keep up!

As I mentioned, he was very well behaved on trail, but once we got back to the barn, different story! Once back at the barn, we stood around trying to figure out what to do next. Should we continue riding? Or should we call it a day? Well Calvin decided his own fate when he saw horses leaving and tried to run after them. Not only did he run, he leapt and bucked trying to keep up. By some miracle I managed to stay on and not get beheaded by tree branches or launched into a tree! As mentioned before, his biggest hangup is that he's herd-sour and worried that he will be left behind. So I managed to stop him and made him trot in circles. Every time he tried to run home, I would make him turn in a circle and work. Eventually, he learned that running doesn't work and ultimately means more work for him. The good thing is that he didn't "win" and learn that running home does work and hey, maybe I'll do this all the time! That's not what we want. So while trotting him in circles takes patience and more work, it will pay off in the long-term.

 "Hmm, this looks like a great time to run toward home!"

Someone mentioned that they enjoyed horses with life and exuberance. Saying that horses that just go along calmly are boring. I replied by saying that I wouldn't mind calm and boring right now! Riding a baby is always exciting!