Dude, Where's My Horse?

Gratuitous desert sky

Spring has definitely come to Tucson. It's a bit chilly night/morning, but once the sun is up, it's beautiful and toasty warm. I'm starting to see trees budding, flowers flowering, and pollen pollinating.

Hard to hate on pollen when it's so pretty!

In addition to the backyard trail Truby and I have been enjoying, there's also a community trail that goes all around the neighborhood. Truby's new home is in an equestrian estate, basically every house has some type of horse property, and even the few that don't, or are no longer keeping horses, are super horse friendly. I frequently see people riding down the road. It's amazing! Note to self: get rich, buy house in an equestrian neighborhood. 

I wasn't sure where the entrance to the community trail was, but barn owner offered to take me sometime. We finally got to meet up today. Because of Truby's history of off property super anxiety we went on foot. Turns out, the trailhead is super easy to get to. Just go out the front gate, go down the road a bit, swing a left down a short stretch of road, and bam! There it is. The neighborhood is SO QUIET, walking horses down the road isn't worrisome at all. 

 Heading down the driveway.
Truby is suspicious. 

 Beginning of the community trail

Saguaro cactus can be HUGE!

 Lots of super shiny horses in turnout

Like this stunning paint horse

Also, Hi Primo!

 Truby: super chill

Okay, first off, the community trail is super awesome. Well kept, wide, inviting. There's even a nice mounting block right there. How thoughtful! Barn owner says they usually handwalk over, and then mount at the trail.  Instead of taking the community trail, we took a trail just off of it that loops around east/west. Apparently the woman that owns it loves people to use it and we have an open invitation. It's beautifully maintained about about a mile long. 

It shows off the best of the Tucson desert, lots of mini washes, lots of cactus, and lots of scrubby trees, lots of sand. It was really neat to peak into the backyards and see all the different setups and horse properties. Yup. I am super nosey! 

I had fully expected Truby to be tense and freak out at least once. But...like...she didn't. She was SO GOOD. She got a little up when we first opened the gate and went onto the road, but she settled quickly. Shoving a carrot in her mouth helped distract from the noise of the gate opening. (It seems like everyone in Tucson has electronic gates. Like...everyone. As far as I can tell, it gives a small discount on home insurance, and we're so close to Mexico that hordes of illegals are just swarming down the roads and people need protection. Yes, that second part is sarcasm!) 

Anyway. She walked calmly down the road, looked around when we got to the trail, and cheerfully followed barn owner and her horse, Primo. She didn't get upset when we walked behind our barn and her friends whinnied at her. She walked with a nice, level headed, ears forward, stride. She got tense and antsy when we got around to where some horses were enjoying their turnout and galloping around, but not even that was unmanageable. I shoved another carrot at her, talked soothingly and we power walked out of sight. Not too bad!

In fact, the only time she had a legitimate startle was when we got back! For some reason she got kinda jiggy  once we got back to the driveway, and did a scoot and Arab impression when the gate rolled closed behind us. It was almost reassuring, because I was having a hard time believing I had the right horse! She had been SO GOOD, and SO calm the entire time. I couldn't believe it! This is the first time I've taken her someplace new and she's been totally chill. You better believe she got TONS of pats and praise and cookies. 

I just could not believe how relaxed she was! I plan to take her around the loop a few more times on foot, and then start riding her. Because not only is she sound enough to start riding again, but she's (maybe)(hopefully!) comfortable enough to go trail riding! 

The only thing I can fault her on, is manners. She likes to walk at Truby speed. That's not especially fast, but faster than good ol' Primo was walking. In the interest of making the experience as positive as possible, I didn't worry about keeping her in place. If we walked faster than Primo, we'd just walk alongside or ahead of him. Truby doesn't seem to care at all if she's in the lead or behind, which is also awesome.She really just wants to go at Truby speed! Once we have her comfortable and confident we can address speed manners. Luckily Primo is one of the golden oldies that's perfect for everything, and even though he prefers to be first, he knew his job was too pack around the 'baby', and didn't get upset the couple of times we passed him. 

If this post seems extra ramble-y and poorly written, it is because I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!! I was expected and prepared for a lot of behaviors...but I wasn't at all expecting a calm, happy horse! 

Shame on me, I guess. I hope this horse keeps proving me wrong! I love being wrong like this.

Hi. I'm Truby. I'm awesome. Cookies?