exploring

I wasn't planning on riding today but Lucy looked at me with her little ears pricked like, "what are we gonna do today, mum?!" so I tacked her up, put on my bright orange reflective vest, and we hacked out on the road and went exploring by ourselves :D I know I'm being kind of ballsy with this horse but she hasn't given me a reason to be cautious, and today she impressed me so much. She wouldn't be able to show me how awesome she is if I didn't take risks and give her the chance to shine.

A bunch of cars passed us and she was totally fine with it. One even passed us at about 45 mph around a curve and I had to yell at them. I feel like today was National Educate the Idiots Day between that and me having to call the cops about a dog that someone locked in their car in the hot sun today at work, but of course I thanked all of the drivers who went past us at a reasonable speed with a smile and a wave.

The first thing we did was "make friends" with the trash cans that people had at the bottom of their driveways. Last time we were out on the road, she didn't like the trash cans and I was already kind of pushing my luck with her, so I chose my battles carefully and left the trash cans for another day (which was today!). I gave her as much time as she needed to investigate them, and she no longer is scared of them.

We explored down this little path that runs off the road that I've always wondered about, and it led down a big hill and to a huuuuge gorgeous field. Lucy was really excited! She's adorable. She spooked at a couple things but I took my time and eventually she sniffed everything and was cool with it. There were a couple piles of old rusty metal back there but they were confined to one area along the path, and there weren't any objects on the trail or in the field. We had a nice little trot and canter around the field and when we were heading home, I let her canter up the hill and she LOVED it. I felt so alive. When I was horse shopping, it was really important to me that my potential horse be able to hack out alone, because it's rare that I ride with someone else who also wants to go off the property and I don't want to be held back by that. Lucy is just so brave. I have to give her major credit.