good to go!

Well, I think Shylah is as ready for Saturday's trail ride as she's going to get, and I think she's going to be fine. Last night was her first ride off the property. I had F.M. ride Gwen out there too, since Gwen's pretty reliable and Shylah will follow her anywhere. It went well, she's very curious and wants to get a good look at things (brush piles, for sale sign, etc) but she's really not particularly spooky, and if she does she'll go a few steps and then want to see what startled her.

Tonight I introduced her to my bike, since we are sure to see some on Saturday. After the initial snorting she just stood there half asleep while I rode in circles around her. So that should be no problem! I figured I'd better make sure she's ok with saddle bags too, so I dug my old saddlebags out of the tack room and filled them with clanky things like bits and hoof picks so they'd be sure to rattle around and be annoying. Did she care? Of course not, no big deal! :-) I took her out alone tonight, off the property. She was a little hesitant to leave the driveway, and it didn't help that Gwen was calling to her, but once I got her past the gate she did well, and even in that very short time seemed to gain confidence. So we're good to go. I think I'll take tomorrow off from riding.

Oh, and Patrick the cribbing thoroughbred left yesterday. There's a lot I could say about that situation, but I won't.

That's all the news for today, so on that note I think I'll stay up as late as I can and draw some Naked Necks (that's a breed of chicken, for any non-chicken people...)