Uncle Galen does his job

Yesterday, Monica and I took Galen and the young mare Mahri to the Redmond Watershed.  Mahri was foaled here at Cascade Gold and is the last of a line of wonderful siblings.  She's still quite green and this was her 4th total trail ride (maybe 5th?).  Anyway, she's still quite green.

Galen has really taken being "Uncle Galen" to heart.  He's great at leading the way on the trails, matching his pace to his charge behind and keeping an eye on whoever it is.  It's really kind of sweet how he keeps turning his head just enough to check on the horse behind.  He will even stop and wait if we get too far ahead.

His general unflappedness really helps those youngsters (and oldsters just starting their trail experiences) be calm. 

Mahri is pretty unflappable herself so far.  She's faced bicycles, strollers, dogs, all sorts of scary things on the trail with nary a spook.  She can be a little lazy, but in my book, a little lazy is WAY better than turn and leave at a high rate of speed.  As her fitness progresses, I'm sure her lazy will go away.

So, yesterday we took advantage of perfect weather (sunshine and 45 degrees on January 21st!), to go for a ride.

Mahri led a little bit and we also worked on her keeping her pace steady.  We had several photo ops where both horses got to practice their tripod stance.

                                                                Dueling cameras

Then, as we weren't out all that long (my ankle is still a problem, whine), we went over a bridge and then let Mahri go back and forth all by herself.  She studied the problem and then did a great job.  Of course, there was a little bit of help from Monica!

 

Mahri is really coming along and is for sale - if you're interested in a smooth, easy going not terribly tall horse who, while green, is taking everything in stride with great humor, she might be 'the one'.