Early last week, we continued to prepare for our Fort Rob trip by heading down to the Plum Creek Wildlife Management Area. Cactus did excellently, even with the deer flies being a bother.
On Wednesday, we loaded up for Fort Rob. Cactus loaded, hauled, & unloaded great. He REALLY seemed to enjoy the "fan life" in his stall. He ate & drank well on the road as well.
In total, Cactus put on 47.7 miles while at the Fort in four rides. Cactus was an absolute rockstar. He was very much at home on these trails. Steep & rocky terrain, water crossings, & other animals were no issue for him. The only area he got flustered was when opening/closing gates (i.e., body control exercises).
On Day One (12.7 miles), I started the ride on Cactus alongside my husband on Zakai. Halfway through the ride, we swapped tack & horses. From then on, I wasn't able to get my husband off of Cactus. They got along quite well & Randy enjoyed his time with him.
I overestimated the GoPro's battery life during our first ride, so the footage below is only the first 1/4-1/3 of our ride.
Day Two (14 miles), my husband was on Cactus to lend support to a coming 3-year-old filly, Mistie, that I was aboard. I am posting the footage from my ride on Mistie so that you can see Cactus in front of us frequently & how he handled the tough terrain.
Day Three (14.1 miles), Cactus provided support to Mistie once again.
Day Four (7 miles) was a shorter ride before we loaded up to head home on Sunday. Towards the end of this ride, there was a wooden pedestrian bridge that Cactus did fantastic crossing.
(See Zakai: Fort Rob #2 video on Zakai's update.)
Since returning from our trip, Cactus has had Monday off to recuperate & will receive his final trim today (Tuesday).
Cactus' potentially final update will be posted on Friday following pickup.
Commentaires