Hitting the Trails

Many have been asking about Faith and how she is enjoying her "official" retirement! Well, she is doing great!

Her daily routine consists of getting her breakfast around 6am, being groomed once she is done eating, and then she heads out to the paddock behind the barn. On the cooler days we blanket her, but lately the weather has been favorable. She stays in her paddock until dinnertime, which is normally around 6 or 7pm. Her stall is prepared for her before she arrives, cleaned out with extra shavings, two fresh buckets of water, a full hay rack and her bucket of grain and supplements.

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As many of our readers know, things around the farm have been quite busy lately! Between working at the shop, lessons, the new Thoroughbred that arrived, and managing all the farm animals, I barely have time to think!

So I decided to do one of my favorite things that I have just been too busy to fit in - I went on a trail ride! A group of students wanted to go as well, and it was a good change of pace for the school horses, so it was a mutually beneficial decision.

Everyone started choosing horses and before I knew it, all of our best trail horses had been taken. This left me with few options: a Morgan who likes to go down the trails sideways at a trot, a Half-Arab who firmly believes that monsters live in trees, or a Saddlebred who chooses to listen to the voices in his head over that of his rider. No thank you.

I thought about it for a few minutes, then I headed out back, put a halter on Faith and brought her into the barn. It wasn't until she was fully tacked up that my students actually believed I was going to take her. Her legs were wrapped, her bridle was adjusted and we were ready to head out.



Due to her leg and muscle problems, we have been careful to only put small riders on her. For that reason, I had never ridden her. She has been doing well lately, has built up a substantial amount of muscle, so I figured it was about time. I grabbed the mounting block, stretched up to the stirrup iron, and up I went!



We headed down the driveway, took a right on the street and rode towards the trailhead. Faith was a little hesitant to lead, so we changed our order and Dreamer and Nicole went in front of us. Faith eagerly followed and seemed a little more comfortable in that order.

The fall foliage was beautiful - the leaves were the brightest yellow I have ever seen before! Faith appeared quite content with herself, seemingly enjoying her time. We changed order again, Faith resuming the lead. She calmly looked at everything in sight as she walked along, never spooking or misbehaving. I was quite surprised, actually - I figured that she would at least have been a little goofy! This lovely old girl never ceases to amaze me...


Since many of you are far away and will never get the opportunity to meet or ride her, here's a little taste of what it's like to ride Faith!

As we were heading down the road to the trailhead:


In the woods underneath the bright yellow maple trees!


I hope everyone has a great weekend!

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