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Great pics Ruthy! Glad you had a couple of nice trusty mounts and a nice ride.

How long were you out? Did the leader give a lot of instructions or just lead you out and let the horses follow along?

We had a 15 minute crash course.

The instructor taught us the "smile, squeeze, smooch, spank" method of getting the horse to move. He also taught us how to get the horse to stop and how to handle certain behaviors.

Rebecca's mare (Mocha) was just lovely and picked up on the cues from the smile and squeeze alone.

My mare (Katy) was a bit lazy (the trail leader's words, not mine). I had to smile, squeeze and smooch to get her to trot. She wanted to lag way back and take her time. I also got the feeling that she was not a fan of other horses.

Even in the pic of me and Becky, you can see her ears pinned back a bit just because Mocha was too close.

But Katy was a real trooper, dealing with a novice on her back. Other than the occassional attempt to nip the other horses rears, my only complaint was her "stop and eat and catch up later" attitude.

Did teach me a bit about being firm with a horse. I learned to steer her away from the other horses and by the time we got back to the ranch, I was feeling much more confident in my ability to control her.

We were out a full hour and a half. I've got bruises to prove it (from the canter the trail leader insisted I try).