Brego was a star! He did great, I was relaxed with him, and we had a great time. There were several river crossings and Brego went through like no big deal. He kept up with Strider easily, and boy is that a switch from lagging behind and trotting on Cody to catch up all the time! Occasionally I lagged back a bit, but easily caught up by running in his foxtrot, and what a delight! It was definitely a more comfortable ride, between the smooth running walk and the slimmer saddle size. On a few long, gradual uphill grades we both gaited the horses, and that was nice. Brego likes going fast. I could tell his little legs were moving a lot faster than Strider's long ones, just to keep up, but he didn't seem to mind.
As we ate our lunch, we heard some thunder rumbling in the distance, so started back at a fairly good clip. There were a few times that Brego seemed a little out of control, and acting a little nutty/emotional, going faster than I'd asked and not slowing down when asked. Tim was experiencing similar things with Strider. I guess they were in "going home" mode. I practiced slowing him and calming him down. I realized at one point (after the fact), that perhaps when Brego was speeding up (and not looking where he was going) I may have been squeezing with my legs to hold on, and therefore giving him the mixed message to speed up, while trying to slow him with the reins. I'll have to watch out for that in the future. We both stopped a couple of times just to calm them down, and they got a lot better.
There were a few raindrops as we got nearer to the parking lot, and just as we reached the truck it began to rain more heavily. We got back just in time!
It was a beautiful day and a beautiful, successful ride. Brego is a great horse, and a great fit for me. I realized that he has really become my "partner", in the horse-partnership sense. (Tim is truly my partner in life!!)
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