A Ride Before the Rain

A friend and I went managed to squeeze a ride in before the rain today.  She wanted to work on her horse going up the "race track" at a more manageable speed, and I thought it would be a good chance to see how Zoe would do following another horse that wanted to go faster....did she remember her manners that we practiced so much last summer?  We tried a trot up the "race track" with Zoe in the lead...no big surprises there.  Zoe trots faster than she used to, but doesn't go all out, so it was very manageable for everyone.  Next we made a big circle and put the other horse in the lead.  He did fine at a trot, it was a nice big trot.  Zoe was following and for part of the way up the hill decided that loping would be the best gait.  She had good manners and I managed to get her down to a trot, I wanted her to work on extending the trot and she got to practice that.  The only thing that she did weird was to toss her head when I went to grab a piece of her mane.  Next we went up beginners hill, Zoe in the lead at a trot...again no big surprises.  At the top we turned around and went just 1 level down and put the other horse in the lead.  He did great and Zoe didn't try to lope up it, but stayed at a trot.  Zoe was almost pushy...wanting the other horse to go faster.  And again she tossed her head when I grabbed her mane.  I think I was not being very careful and may have poked her in the withers.  So we continued on our ride and changed places often....and I was careful how I grabbed a piece of mane and we did fine.  Zoe didn't seem pushy anymore either.  On our way home Zoe was in the lead and we trotted up the cow pasture past the rocks that she doesn't like.  She shyed away from them and made a big deal about it so at the top I circled her and we immediately went back down the hill to trot up it again.  No problems the second time around.  4.98 miles, max speed 9.02, avg speed 4.22