Apparently Zoe has forgotten how to pick up her right lead. Or
maybe her rider, me, is giving some confusing cues. Or
maybe she's protesting having to work harder trying to pick it up while collected. Or
maybe it's a combination of all of the above. Or
maybe I'm obsessing about something that is really no big deal. Last summer while doing serpentines, we could change leads with just a trot step between...working towards flying lead changes. Apparently things are different now. We did manage to get the right lead with much work involved.
So to give us a break we went on the trail with a friend from work. She and her husband trailered to our staging area and off we went toward the lake. Jim and I went with this couple about a month ago and they were really excited about the area that we ride. They were so excited that they tried to find the lake on their own a few weeks after that and ended up on the rocky trail. Not good news for them. They didn't like it, got off and walked for about a mile, a bit too hard for their horses. So I took them on a ride and showed them how to get to the lake without using the rocky trail. They really liked it. It ended up being a long ride tho...2 hours to go 5 miles. They were ponying a horse and they don't trot much. And when they trot, it's pretty slow. I thought Zoe and I were slow. It ended up being a great ride tho, nice company and it was nice to show the place to riders that appreciated it. Zoe did pretty good too. The slower horses she adapted to. They had a dog that liked to walk/run behind the last horse-and sometimes we were the last horse. Zoe didn't mind the dog. Zoe liked to be in the lead or last. The middle was the challenging place for her. I think she didn't like how close the horses rode behind her. Anyway it was a good break from trying to get the right lead.
