Old horse, old rider, rough trails
Buddy, the over-the-hill horse, has had chronic lameness for over a year (more information in an upcoming post), and I’ve ridden him on trail very little, and in competitive trail rides not at all, which has been deeply disappointing.
But I was able to ride in the NATRC competition in Peñasquitos Canyon (north of San Diego) last October on a borrowed horse named Milagro. He is a Spanish mustang belonging to the author Audrey Pavia ; she has ridden him in a number of competitive trail rides. Audrey has a younger Spanish mustang, Rio, that she is bringing along as a trail horse, and she wanted to start him out in the company of his paddock pal. I was pleased and honored that she asked me to ride Milagro.