Welcome to Dog Valley!

Solo again! Today I decided to show my best girlfriend one of my favorite riding areas--Dog Valley. It's a bit farther out than I have gone before when riding alone for obvious safety reasons, but equipped with cell phone and SPOT, I decided Riyah has earned the right to see this place. I think she liked it! We climbed the lower Sugar Loaf Hill and took in the incredible view. It's a very rocky trail, and she handled it like an experienced trail horse: she lowered her head and dug in, pushing from behind till we conquered that long steep hill and came out on top. And boy, was it worth it! The wind was howling up there, but it was gorgeous! You can see for miles and miles. Mt. Nebo looked pretty spectacular with the bright white snow. It's going to get another coat of white paint tonight according to the weather people.

Is there any better way to see the world than from between those ears?

Dog Valley is a wide open expanse where you can pretty much ride forever. Sage brush and cedar trees are in abundance, and believe it or not spring flowers are coming, too! I saw some tiny white flowers already in bloom and Indian Paintbrush is just starting to show some color. I promise I'll post pictures in a few weeks--it can get pretty impressive out there in the desert!

Riyah and I did a slow ride. Lots of walking with about 30% trotting. We even threw in a few canter strides for fun! Mostly I worked on: getting her to soften in the bridle, transitions, backing, and I started asking for leg yields. On the way back to the trailer I had her leg-yielding from one side of the dirt road to the other and back again. She was catching on really fast, but if anyone sees our tracks, they'll think I was DUI!

Riyah is quite sensitive and tends to think if I add even a little leg pressure that I want more speed, so I took a lot of time letting her understand that one leg by itself can add a little pressure and it just means "move over, please." She caught on pretty quickly. I have been pretty lax in asking her to do some of these basic training skills on a regular basis. Many of our rides have just been about "trail skills" and sometimes that's been plenty for the moment, but I need to not neglect other important training. She needs it all!

She wasn't great at standing still for me to get on ( but that's OK 'cause Judy is going to help me teach her to stand still like Sam does, right, Judy? Oh, boy!), but she stood perfectly still for tacking up, unsaddling, grooming, taking boots off, etc. No pawing. No fretting. No dancing around. She was better that she is when other horses are nearby!

We rode for about six miles, some on the trail, some winding in and out of the sagebrush and around trees, and some crazy leg yielding back and forth. Riyah was great through it all! I really think my girl likes Dog Valley!