First trail ride of the year

So last weekend I took advantage of the better weather and decided to go on a tail ride with the property owners of the place I board at. It got off to a great start...NOT.

Now keep in mind that Notch has had the winter pretty much free of work. After getting him tacked up I went in the arena to lunge him. Now the other two horses we were with headed out on a quick ride while I got Notch ready. Notch did not like this. The week before Notch had been great on the lunge line, this time he attempted to pull my arm off, and showed off his bronc moves! After a lengthy battle discussion lunging, his horse friends returned. I then mounted and Notch quickly returned to his lazy meandering self.

After a few laps around the arena we left the barn to go out on the trails. This resulted in another discussion over the direction we should travel. After several circles we were finally able to leave the driveway. Once on the trail Notch appeared happy enough, that was until we reached the end of the first loop. This is where Notch decided that we should be done with our ride and head home. We had another argument discussion over which direction to go. Notch finally gave up his efforts and trotted to catch up with the rest of the group.

After that challenge everything was going good, until a grouse tried to eat us. The horse eating grouse flew up out of the grass and Notch completed the fastest spin/rollback I think he is capable of. This resulted in me making an unplanned dismount. I some how managed to land on my feet thankfully! The look on Notch's face when he finally stopped trying to run me over with his rear end was priceless! He looked at me like "Mom why are you on the ground something is trying to eat us!!" I don't hold that one against him because those things scare the bejezus out of me as well!

Edit: I did forget one part. Not long after the spook Notch almost fell. He has developed a bad habit of trotting down hills. This particular hill was semi-slippery due to recent rain. When he hit the turn at the bottom is back end went out from under him, he thankfully caught himself. This would not have been the first time we went down. Last summer we went on a week long camping trip to Wildcat Mtn in southern WI. It is very hilly (hence the Mtn in the name) and can be slippery when wet. Well it was wet and slippery because it had been raining the week before we arrived and some of the trails had not dried out entirely. About half way up a slippery slop Mr. Notch decides to stop to wait for his friends. I told him this was a bad idea and if he continued to stand there he would fall. He didn't listen and went down on his knees. I got off before I could possibly be stuck under him. Well it was just as slippery for me as it was for him so I fell too. In his attempt to stand up he kicked me, thankfully he did not actually put any weight on it or I would have been stuck in the middle of no where with a broken leg. I walked him up the rest of the hill (off the trail where it was not as muddy) and he thankfully was also fine. I ended up with a nice bruise to document our adventures.  

Just thought I would throw in a picture of Notch hanging out at camp. I think this was either the day of the fall or the day after.

So by the end it was a good ride, but I hope the next one goes better. I am sad I am not home this weekend to ride him again; but I only have two more weeks until graduation and then I should have more time to ride!