I can’t express in words how truly lucky and blessed I am to own one of the BEST trail horses ever! She has some limitations as I can’t ride up or down steep hills, but there are plenty of other trails that I can ride that she is just perfect. That would be my girl Miss Chloe, she has so many trail miles and she completely enjoys our rides and is steady and strong. Not much ruffles her feathers as my girlfriend and I enjoy our rides each week. We are seeing so many wildflowers bloom with all our rain. Here are a few photo’s of a big field we ride by often, full of wildflowers! Are flowers blooming yet where you live? I feel fortunate to be in mild climate in Southern California.

I have written in other posts about all my riding in the past which rarely included trail rides. I use to show Hunter/Jumpers and my riding life was all arena riding with many jumping lessons and a ton of horse shows. My, how my horse enjoyment has changed, but then I have changed and grown old and my time and money are such that the trails are what I do each week. I dream of showing, but then am tired most of the time and wonder why I would want the stress of showing, plus I don’t own a show horse and the money it would take to get back into showing is a bit crazy. I think if I got back into any kind of horse showing it would be trail shows, or trail trials and I do not own a horse that can do this but I thought one day it would be fun to try competitive trail riding, maybe someday. 😀

I use to not give trail riding much thought, like it was just this thing you do if you own a horse and can’t afford much else. Or if your horse has lameness issues or is restricted because of lameness issues and you can’t exercise them in the arena (which is all I really knew in the past was arena exercise). I’m coming to the realization that a true trail horse has extensive training and I don’t give myself enough credit for all the training I have done with my trail horses. Miss Chloe has a bad back leg so we only trail ride to keep her limber and in shape.

I am terrible to myself, I should be so proud as I bought Miss Chloe as an unbroken 2 year old and I broke her to ride which includes walk, trot and canter (lope) in the arena! She knows many things, side pass, turn on the haunches, turn on the forehand, backing up, moving off the leg and a bit of neck reining. We do not practice any more in the arena because all I ever do with her any more is TRAIL RIDING and she is a PRO! 😀 We have over 10 years under our belt of the best ever trail rides. She brings so much with her on the trails, so calm and reassuring to any horse that is nervous or spooky. I know I have helped her with all her training and I am so proud of my mare, she is one of a kind, my friend, my muse. ❤ ❤ ❤

I can’t believe it has been one year since this photo of Alice on Chloe! I am missing Alice terribly since she has moved to Arizona but I have been visiting as often as I can and I am off to Arizona next week. I will be helping with babysitting and I can’t wait for my visit. I wish I could take the horses with me, but I can’t afford to take them and so they will be taken care of by my best friend, Gracie’s Mom.

I have so enjoyed sharing my ponies with you all and I have such great respect for all the trail riders out in this world. I know there are many kinds of trails, our trails are among residential houses which are mostly quite, only one busy street otherwise not much traffic. We also are close to a riverbed which is an all natural habitat but the sand is too deep for my horses. There is a lot to see and learn for the horses on our trails. Not much spooks our seasoned trail horses any more! THEY ARE THE BEST TRAIL PONIES! I can’t help myself, I have to brag, they deserve it!

Proud Trail Pony Mom,

-Diana 😀