My horses and I are not seasoned trail experts by any means. We hack around my property, and we’ve been to Gettysburg to tour the battlefields. That’s about the extent of it.
This past weekend, though, we ventured out with a group (14 altogether) for an 8-mile trail ride, and both of my horses were wonderful. I mostly (try!) to ride dressage, so there’s 12 other horses and riders with their western saddles replete with saddle bags and then there’s me and a friend in our britches with our dressage saddles and backpacks to carry water and snack. Hoo boy, I bet there was some eye rolling going on there that we didn’t see. :winkgrin:
But I am sooo proud, especially of my chestnut girl, who I was riding when we managed to catch a tree in my stirrup. She scooted a bit (maybe 10 feet or so) as she was jabbed in the flank by a branch, but she listened to me and stopped and waited while another rider extricated the limb from my stirrup. The log was, I kid you not, about 15 feet long and about 6 inches in diameter. I guess a more slender branch off of that main log went through my stirrup. So she was jabbed in the flank (actually that rather tender area between the flank and stifle), and had some superficial bloody wounds to prove it, but she listened to me and stopped. LOVE that girl!! 
