Radar's first big trail ride

Such a big boy!

This was so much fun, I had no idea it would be this cool to take a Slybaby to the Shawnee. It is not like I have not taken very green young horses before (even ones I have made and raised), but it was not one of Sly's babies until now. Something about that makes it so different somehow--maybe it is because I am just now able to see who they are and whether he is passing his temperament and level headed-ness. And by all accounts, he is!

Radar was incredible. He had his first picket line experience. No big deal after about two minutes of walking around in circles trying to figure it out. His first hay bag on a picket line was much funnier. He would stick his head in for a big bite and the bag would MOVE! The look on his face was priceless--he was appalled. He looked a tme with big eyes like he did not know whether to attack it or have me pucnish it. There was not much time to laugh at that though, since it soon bounced back and smacked him in his face. That was even funnier, as it scared him a bit. He finally decided he could beat that mean ol hay bag if he stood his ground, and they came to a quick truce. He got so good at it that he graduated to the crappy rope hay bag instead of the good canvas ones that somehow did not pack three of themselves, but only two. That was about all of the drama for his first night there, in the scary woods, tied to some wierd thing in the sky.

He did not ride on Saturday, as I knew we would be a long ride of five or six hours, and that might be asking a little much of him for the first day. He stayed back and ate, and was pretty content, other than the first few minutes of hollering that they all do when they are left alone at camp. Another hurdle overcome!

By Sunday, he was ready for his turn--borderline impatient, I would say. Must be all that spoiled horse alfalfa he spent all day eating on Saturday. We will practice tying without pawing this week, as a result. He did beautifully on the three hour ride (well two hours riding maybe, one hour bs'ing and beer drinking, and fancy cheese eating)--kept up great, refused nothing, and did as well leading the pack as he did following. We rode with two big ass QHs, a humongous horse of many breeds and two ponies, as well as HaidaGirl, and Radar managed to pace himself well enough to hang with all of them. His funniest moment was his first water crossing that was not at normal water level, so that half the creek was huge flat rocks that take some navigating. About 6 feet from the far edge of the creek, there was a bit of a drop off between the rocks so that there was a pool of water maybe two feet across. He could easily walk through it or over it, but I turned around just in time to see him squat his little hiney down like he was at the Olympics and launch himself sky high over the puddle. You have to picture this with all 6'4"of Barry riding him, cackling like a lunatic when he realized what Radar was doing. As seems to always be the case with these big adventurous hops that babies tend to do, he did not even make much headway in getting over the water anyway--he landed smack in the middle of the puddle, then marched his little butt up a steep hill like he had won first place. He was very proud and did not even seem to know how much we were laughing at him.

His big day made him very sleepy, so he also had his first lay down on a picket line, which of course, I documented like I do everything. He was a tired baby boy!

He got to ride again for a supposed to be short ride on Monday before we packed up. As usual, we got carried away and were out close to four hours, but he did beautifully again. Actually even better than the day before, if that is possible. This was a hilly rough ride and he trudged through it all. He got in water up to his hocks or so (which is not really very far on most horses!), which delighted him to no end.

On our return to camp, he had his first shower. That was some cold water, but he liked it since the truck thermometer said it was 97 degrees.

All in all, I could not have been more pleased with him. And another crazy thing happened--I heard Barry say how much he liked this little boy....and he rode all three days instead of copping out to ride BIkey instead like he usually does. That is how much he like baby Radar. I have more pics to go through, and I am hoping to find one that shows him riding through parts of the trail that are sort of worn so that the trail is bordered by higher ground---Barry's feet almost touched the ground in spots. But any concerns I had about Radar being able to pack him for long periods of time are completely satisfied now--he had no issues at all!