Trail, uh, urban city ride...

Today was the day we ventured out into the wild, the wild public that is..

What is it about the general public? We are an awfully noisy species. Not only that, most humans have no regard for their safety as they jog or bike right up on the backside of a horse! Ignorance is bliss..

Pate and I went for our first trail ride in an area with ALOT of distractions. The trail was the Seattle PUD Reservoir. It's 9.2 miles around and not much of a trail ride for a human, but to a horse, it provides just about every horse eating opportunity that you can find with the exception of crossing water. Most horses do great out in the wild back country. But when you ride in the city, it's a whole other ballgame.

Not only did we ride along some very busy roads, with semi's, Harley's, and loud radio thumping cars, we also encountered joggers, dogs rushing and barking, cross walks, road lines, mountain bikers and the occasional llama!

Care to guess how Pate did? It was a complete non-event. He was absolutely flawless and I am not just saying that. I have started quite a few horses and there have been some that I STILL would not ride in that type of an environment. But I trusted Pate to handle himself and he did.

The only spook we got was when a biker with an IPOD rode up so close on Pates butt that I could have reached out and slapped the dumb guy. Pate scooted and spun to face the scary moving object. Luckily he didn't haul off and kick the guy in the face! It was a bit unnerving. We did not hear him coming due to the traffic noise. I kept the eyes in the back of my head peeled from then on. When the family of kids and Dad rode up on us a few minutes later (again right up on us), Pate just turned his head to glance over his shoulder. I was so proud!

Tomorrow, I think we will head for the back country to get away from all the craziness. LOL

Many thanks to my friend Dodge for coming along and keeping me safe. It was fun riding out from your house and onto the trails.