It’s official!

PF now known as Bell or Bella is ours. DH picked her up Friday for a trial trail ride on Sat. When I got off of work we loaded up and headed to MIL’s. I left my girls at home. I figured I would stay back and watch Ty while MIL, Chase and DH rode. Then I didn’t have to see how she did to be part of the decision.

When we unloaded everyone at MIL’s we put Bell in the round pen. She didn’t seem too concerned about being in a new place. Later that evening we got the horses out and rode. Ty rode Nikki, Chase & MIL both rode bb w/a halter and DH on Bell. The worst horse was Abby. She was nervous around Bell. Since Chase was on bb and losing control he decided to get off. I hopped on and had a nice conversation w/Abby and all was fine. After that MIL got on Bell. Poor girl is going to be doing a lot of loping since she is so smooth.

The next morning we got up and everyone got ready to head out. Well what is planned never seems to work. FIL got into town early w/my niece and nephews. They are visiting from out of state for two week so MIL wasn’t able to go. Instead, DH, Chase and I loaded up and headed out to the trails.

When we got there I opted to ride Abby so Chase didn’t get killed and put him on Sis. The first 5 minutes was the worst of the ride. Abby HATES going from one surface to another and she is very aware of what she is stepping on. It took a long time to get her on the pavement and then over the cracks in the pavement and then finally onto the trail head.

Once on the trail Abby and I stayed out front doing some turns around trees, bending, etc. She was actually doing very well. A shy here or there at a pile of poo but nothing too bad, she is just very lookie lo. Of course Bell was being an angel. I can honestly say the way she was going that I would have trusted her to carry Chase. Kind of made me sick to my stomach she was being so good. She only spooked once and I’m not really sure if it was a spook or if she was just getting out of Abby’s way when Abby spooked at a deer and tried to land in Bell’s lap.

We didn’t stay out too long – maybe 4 hours. Bell is about as out of shape as Sis and I managed to sprain my ankle at the farthest point on the long trail so we opted not to ride the last trail. When we got back to MIL’s DH turned Bell loose w/the herd. Amazingly there were no arguments.

She is not perfect in any way. She has some tuning up to do. She has an iron mouth and doesn’t know how to neck rein. She also lacked a bit of confidence on the trail as a leader but seemed to do well by the end of the ride. That all being said – I think she’s a perfect fit for DH.