First Trailride of 2018

Thank goodness for a fighting immune system!  I'm finally feeling better enough that I was able to get out and ride Highboy on the trails.  He was so pleased to be going and doing SOMETHING that he was remarkably well behaved despite not having been ridden for nearly a month.  The other possibility is that he is finally a grown up, because he has finally turned nine (by convention all Thoroughbreds turn a year older on January first).  Really a toss-up between the two.

We spent our first trail ride of the year at Eagles' Nest in Livermore with Shambhu and Carol.  The river was mostly frozen so there's no fun splashing videos this time, but it was still a beautiful scenic ride with sunny weather.  We finished just as some clouds were rolling in.  Highboy was performing his usual routine of "But I don't wanna go home yet!  Just five more minutes!" and crawling as slowly towards the parking lot and trailer as possible. 

He and Shambhu have a pretty good system worked out.  Highboy insists that he wants to lead at the beginning of our rides, because we are charging out into the great unknown and if we're having an adventure Highboy wants to see it first.  Shambhu is perfectly content with this.  It's a lot of responsibility to be the lead horse especially headed into new territory, and Shambhu is really more of a content follower.  Once we get past the halfway point in our loop, though, the roles switch.  Shambhu is happy to be headed back to the safety of the trailer and a hay bag and he takes the lead.  Highboy then proceeds to drag his toes, lollygagging along and stopping often to stare around at the scenery.  He never wants the rides to be over!