Joey Takes a Hike

Don't worry, I hiked with him, and we returned together. I needed some horse therapy this afternoon and decided a good brisk walk would do me good. Joey needs to get out and see the world in any way he can and it's boring to be alone walking sometimes, so I haltered him and brought him along.

Ready for action, though the weather and horse look somewhat ambivalent..

He started out pretty excited about things, of course Sheza screaming at us as we walked past her fence line up the road didn't help. Nor did the three new horses in the field across the road, who cantered up out of the bushes and about gave him a heart attack, then trotted along side us through the crunchy woods. I sang a little tune and breathed and kept him moving forward and as soon as we got away from the pasture lines he settled. A neighbor stopped to ask if I was from the horse rescue at the end of the road (UGH, NO I am not), and Joey whinnied and got anxious when we stopped so I wished her a nice day and kept moving.

Who, what, where?

It was slow progress, walking a few steps, stopping to stare at something or have a bite of grass, and a few more steps. Once he seemed settled and was getting greedy in the grass alongside the road I upped the pace a bit and we climbed a pretty steep short hill.

Always ready to eat anything:

He walked along behind or next to me on a loose lead, and stood quietly as cars passed us at various speeds. Sometimes he walked with his nose to the ground like a blood hound and he tried to eat everything. He didn't pursue the big intact prickly green pine cones very far but did try to eat a smushed one, grazed greedily whether the grass was red, brown, or green, and pooped and pooped. Good signs for an endurance prospect, yes?

After the hill climb and another descent, we climbed a longer, steeper hill that had us both breathing pretty good. As we crested it and came out into the open again we saw it. A field of incredibly weird looking black things. Joey saw it first:

Holy Crapsilon, what are those things?!

The offending creatures:

He stood absolutely stock still in that alerted pose for probably a minute and a half, didn't blink or move a muscle just STARED. Finally he lowered his head, sucked in a breath, and blew a loud, obnoxious snort. He that a couple more times, licked and chewed, and was ready to walk on. Of course some curious smart ass little cow decided to trot after us and that got him swinging around to stare again:

No, seriously, what are those?!

Pretty clouds, pretty boy:

The clouds were getting a bit ominous and the temperature was dropping, so we decided to turn around after about a mile and a half.

Hmm, we might be getting wet..

We made it past the cow herd again, down the hill, and this time I got a picture of the little concrete bridge crossing:

It got eye balled long and hard, and then we crossed:

His feet were moving but his ears said "Really?"

It started to sprinkle and then rain pretty consistently in the last half mile to home. I put my sweatshirt back on and encouraged Joey forward when he wanted to graze, and we made it back in the gate after 3 miles in about an hour and a half.

Almost home, in the rain:

Joey was a very good boy and it was great practice for both of us on a number of things. And it was fun, and a workout. So many benefits, I just might have to do it again!