Eldorado National Forest

I feel so blessed living close to Eldorado National Forest. I try to spend as much time there as I can. There are hundreds of trails. In the weekend some of the shorter ones are busy, but there is still plenty of room. I love the serenity, all the sounds and smells of the forest. The first thing I do when I can´t see any houses and roads is to stop and take ten deep breaths. I feel alive out there and in touch with nature.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/eldorado/about-forest

Today Trigger and I took a ride/walk in the forest. Right now when I´m 28 weeks pregnant it´s not very comfortable to ride any more. I mostly walked today and rode some. I´ve decided that when I don´t feel like riding at least walk a couple of miles with my horse, five times a week. I love it, I got to spend time with my horse and I feel like we at least maintain some kind of condition. I also play a lot we all the horses on the ground. I want my relationship to my horses constantly be evolving.

Trigger and I had a great time today. The weather was nice, sunny, with a light breeze and around 66 degreese. Perfect! We didn´t see any other people on the trails. We heard and saw a lot of animals: Californian Quails, deer, rabbits, raccoons, snakes, Turkey Vultures and a hawk.

On our way home a lady drove by and rolled down her window and started talking to us. She was obviously from the city- she drove a tiny car (these roads are made for 4wheel drive trucks), had a lot of makeup and perfume and seemed much disoriented. I feel bad that I didn´t have any water left to give her. I think that she really would have needed that. Even if it wasn´t that warm today it was pretty warm in the middle of the day and with the elevation it can get dangerous. In the middle of a sentence she drove away laughing saying that she was lost. There wasn´t much I could do, she was already gone. We continued walking towards home. Half an hour later she came again and stopped. I pointed her in the direction of the nearest town. I hope she stayed on the same road and made it there.

One of the things that Trigger and I worked on since I got him last year is to not stop an eat grass all the time. This has been our biggest issue so far. Maybe it doesn´t sound so bad. I can agree upon that there are far worse habits. Still it can be very annoying if you want to go for a ride or a walk and your horse stops all the time. Trigger´s been starved by a previous owner and he was the only horse out of four that survived that woman’s “care”. He still has some food issues, which I totally understand. Of course he has all the food he needs now, I feed him three times a day and he´s on pasture 24/7 so he has things to nibble on the whole time. BUT when we´re doing things together, like riding or walking I am very strict with him. I don´t let him stop and eat whenever he wants to. He can stop if he needs to look at something, but not for eating unless I invite him to. When I need to take a break or if it´s a good time I have a combined body/voice cue that shows him that now it´s OK to eat. It´s the same command every time, very clear. We have another command (voice cue) that tells him that now it´s time to go. We agreed upon the rules and I believe that he´s happier now. He is always relaxed and seems to enjoy our time together. Before he was anxious about where the next spot of grass is and had a very hard time focusing on what we were doing. Now he is a pleasure to be around. I feel comfortable being in any situation and environment with him because I know where his at. I trust him and he trusts me. I feel very blessed that he walked in to my life. He´s a survivor.