I decided to take O. back to RPF this past weekend to run her through a simulation hunt to see if she could handle it. Rachel was on Izzie, Erin D. on Taos, John on Odessa and me on Ritza. We did the over the rivers and through the woods thing and O. was great. She lead a lot of the time and even jumped her first fence, a little post and rail. I took a picture of it but I won't bore you with horse's first fence pictures.
Riverplains land varies between steep, wooded trails to wide open fields along the river. While we were on one of the steep, wooded sections John and O. parted ways. When I realized he wasn't behind me I called to ask if he was OK and he said yes but O. is headed the other direction. I could barely see her cantering down the trail and called to her. When she heard me she spun around and headed back up the trail toward John, past him and took the left up the trail Rachel, Erin and I had just ascended. I could only hear her so I kept calling her and she ran right up to me. John had to hoof it and appeared 30 seconds or so later.
Through no one's fault, O. had slipped and John decided she had a better chance of getting back on her feet without him in the way and made the smart decision to bail. Thank goodness no one was hurt. Since everyone was OK, we went on to ride some more in the knobs and then down onto the plains and in the river. It is so beautiful down there. Thanks again Riverplains for taking O. through a lot of learning experiences and keeping everyone safe. John did an outstanding job with her.
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