Alright, I know it's been awhile. Apologies for the delay goes out to my one reader.

Hunter pace was an excellent time despite the fact we almost couldn't go. The night before the ride I met up with Carol at the barn. We were going to groom our horses and pack up the truck and trailer so we'd be ready in the morning to head out. I'd just finished giving the big man a brushing and was picking out his hooves when what do you know, the shoe was missing from his left foreleg. No shoe, no hunter pace. You can't ride a horse around with a shoe missing, it can cause all sorts of problems. Especially on the type of ride we were about to do. Completely bummed we scrapped our plans and I headed home. I got a call from Carol less than an hour later suggesting I call Jack, my farrier, to see if he'd come out in the morning to reset the lost shoe. It seemed like a long shot but I left him a message anyway. A couple hours later while Jeff and I were enjoying a yummy dinner at Wasabi I got a return call. He'd take care of it no problem. The pace was back on.

I was a bundle of nervous excitement the next morning as we loaded up the truck and trailer. Saddles, bridles, grooming kits, buckets, water for the horses and our own riding gear was loaded into the back of the pickup. Hay nets had to be filled and stowed in the trailer and then on to see how well Coda took to being loaded. His previous owners said he trailered fine, walks right on. But that was nearly three months ago and horses can be funny. My worry was short lived as he stepped up and in. He gave Carol's horse Nugget a sniff on the nose and went right for the hay hanging in front of him. We noted that while Coda was definitely taller, Nugget was most certainly wider when viewed from the rear. The 45 minute ride to Grafton went by quick as Carol and I happily chatted away.

There were already a few rows of trailers parked with horses and riders everywhere when we arrived. My nervousness returned when I saw the first group of riders heading for the start. They were a three person team, all dressed in matching shirts and beige riding breeches (an article of clothing I will avoid at all costs). Their horses were glossy and sporting splint boots and polo wraps. I couldn't help but think of the bath I'd not given Coda the night before since we thought we weren't coming and the poop stains all over his white legs. A moment later I was relieved to see riders in jeans and t-shirts as Carol and I were. There were even Western riders on the field which was the last thing I expected but was happy to see nonetheless. We unloaded the horses and gave them as good a grooming as we could under the circumstances. Coda didn't look half bad, what he did look was a little bored and wanting to put his face to the grass he was standing on. After registering, tacking up and mounting we headed for the start and handed in our card. "Number 61. You guys go out in 25 minutes." Carol and I look at each other. "huh?"
"Teams are allowed on the field three minutes apart, sorry but you have a little wait."
So we walked our horses around, chatting about this and that while taking in the sights of the many horses and riders gearing up.
"Look at him!" a woman says to me of Coda as Carol and I are riding by her trailer, "he's got some attitude!" Not having any idea what on earth she meant by it since he was behaving just fine I smiled and said "Thanks, he's five."
Carol looks at me after we passed "What the heck was she talking about attitude? He doesn't have an attitude!" Ten minutes later as we were walking back the other way toward the start we saw the same woman wrestling with her own horse to get it's bridle on. Carol chuckles to me "Who has the attitude now?"
Before long it was our turn to head out and Coda was happy to have something to do other than walk up and down aisle after aisle of trucks and trailers. In the beginning the trails were nearly invisible and we took a quick wrong turn and ended up off the correct path but soon we settled into a good pace. Carol led for the first half then we took turns. Coming around a small bend in the woods Coda shied to the right with his head up high as a large garter snake crawled across the path in front of us. He didn't freak out, but was keeping an eye on it just to be sure. It wasn't long before we came to the first set of jumps. Some logs and brush set up along the course. At every obstacle there is a route around for the non jumpers and those were the ones we took. My favorite parts of the pace were the open fields. The trail leads you out of the woods and across and around the perimeter of a large field. Here we would let our horses canter or gallop depending on the size of the area and if there were any other riders in front of us. At one field we came to there was a photographer taking pictures of all the riders in the pace. Coda had one eye on him to our right and the other eye on the jumps in front of him to our left. A pair of coops painted to look like brick walls and something he's never seen in his life judging by his reaction to them. We were not about to go over them but he was still doing his best to stay as far away as possible. He was so distracted I had a terrible time getting him to canter and that's the picture the photographer captured. Me with a grim face and Coda looking confused. Oh well. All in all the ride was fantastic, I had a great time. We didn't win any ribbons but that wasn't what we were there for. Coda decided to put up a fuss when we were loading them back on the trailer to go home. I think he decided he'd rather stay on that huge field of grass and eat until the sun went down. We eventually got him on but now I know I have something new to work on with him. Doesn't matter, I still adore the silly bastard.