Swimming Anyone??

This morning after dropping my boys off to school, I headed to the barn to ride. I was going to pass on the dressage saddle and go with the close contact saddle and really do some riding. I know on post they allow for the horses to ride down the road, I just wasn't sure where. Sooooo....explore time. I love just going out and finding new places to check out. I dug out all the tack and drove down to the "Q" barn. Olly was thrilled to see me. After giving him a HUGE kiss I got started getting him tacked up. I have decided that I am changing his "color" to red. I never thought red looked good on red horses, but suddenly I have had a change of heart. It doesn't matter what color the BigRedHorse wears, though, he will look good in anything. Just like his mama....lol.

Sassy red!!

We started out going the opposite direction we went the other day. We walked down the road along the river and made a turn to the left and around the huge turn-out paddock.

To my, and Olly's suprise none of the other horses came running. I thought that was a standard? When a strange horse walks by a huge paddock, all the other horses haul ass across to meet them. Well, the Ft Eustis horses are lazy, I guess. We continued on around a curve that had hardly a shoulder. It was tall grass and what would probably be a swamp if it weren't so hot. I could just hear Husband's voice in my head saying how dangerous it is, so we crossed to the other side of the road which was wooded. I started hearing a crackling sound in the woods. I  shrugged it off to squirrels. Those things are everywhere here, and kept walking. Olly didn't dismiss as easily. He kept one ear on the woods while trying to focus on what I was telling him. Another 50 yards down I heard another loud noise in the woods. Ok, that WASN"T a squirrel. Olly froze, Pony Vision in HD. Then I saw it, three guys doing some sort of LandNav. They were in ACU's and totally not paying attention to the BigRedHorse. The burst out of the woods to the road side. I could feel Olly's heart beat through my boots. As soon as he saw they were men I could feel him relax. Then the guys looked up. Here stands a huge horse freaking out and a girl on top of him saying "good boy!" I think they were a bit taken back. lol I briefly explained that he was having trouble seeing them in the woods with their ACU's and he just wanted to check them out. They went their own way as did we.

He actually walked on a loose rein today!!!

We followed the road around another corner where we stumbled upon a HumV getting a tire change and a golf course. The grass was perfect for a nice canter. Nooooo, not ON the golf course, on the shoulder of the road across opposite the golf course. We cantered (it was tough to keep a consistant non-galloping canter) about a 1/2 mile before the grass started tapering down for the railroad crossing. I was a bit nervous about the railroad tracks. There aren't any train tracks in Hawaii. I wasn't sure he would go over...or walk over. I pictured in my head walking up to the tracks and Olly leaping over them in the road, but he must have taken his big boy pill today and walked right over like he had done it a million times. The next intersection was a major through road. It had a good amount of traffic and about 75 soldiers PT'ing. It did have a nice grassy shoulder to ride on as well. I am starting to see a trend with this side of the road thing. It is great for riding. By this point of the ride I had already seen about 3 MP's drive by, so I figured this was a horsey apporved riding area.
As we made the turn down the busy road, I see a split rail fence....I immediately eye-balled it. Olly saw it too. I looked down at him and asked, "should we do it boy?" It didn't look any higher than 2'9" so I asked for a trot. I looked both ways and we jumped it. I wanted to go back and do it again, just because it was something different than a regular vertical, but it was on the shoulder of the road and there were cars driving by. I wasn't going to push my luck.

I snapped a pic of the split rail fence on the way home. I have no idea its purpose.

Just as I started paying attention again, I looked up and this soldier running was like "that was awesome!! What a cool horse!" I just waved and said "I know, thanks." I mean I really do know he is awesome. I gave Olly a pat and we trotted off. We were still about a mile from the barn. We trotted up and down the mounds they had for drainage and who knows what other reason and slowly made our way back to the river. Olly was sweating and he looked like he could use a dip in the river. We crossed a small rock wall (small enough ot walk over) and went in. I would have totally let him swim, but I had the saddle on and my boots, so we just waded. I think next time we go out I will go bareback and actually let him swim.

Pony Vision again...

Yuck!! Salt Water!!!

He really seems to love the water. We played in the water for a few minutes and then went back to the barn for some hand grazing and clover. Only one more day of quarentine for the BigRedHorse and then he is free!! Saturday night I will be putting him in his permanant stall and Sunday morning he will be able to meet his new friends!! He will be so happy!
I did bring my GPS today, but after 484ft it died. I guess I forgot to charge it. When I got home I made sure it hooked it up so it will be ready for tomorrow.
Oh! And my hose was still attached to the pump, where I left it yesterday and the day before that... ;)