So, a close friend of mine has never sat on a horse before. Mike is 21 years old. I was completely in shock by this news. At the time, I had about 5 horses, so I told my boyfriend Travis that we were taking Mike out on a trail ride in the park behind our house. My horses had all been out there a number of times, all together in a group and on occasion, solo. Everyone was always so good. 

Blydenburgh State Park is a beautiful 600 acre horse park that meets up with my back yard. There is a gorgeous man-made lake and waterfall, a historical society, and miles and miles of trails. It is always so relaxing going out for a nice walk or ride on those trails.

Our nice trek began around 3:30 pm and it started out great! I was on my paint horse, Phoenix, Travis was on his gelding, Smokey, and Mike was on my OTTB, Cash. We had been out there for about 30 minutes before we reached the sprawling grazing pastures when all hell broke loose. 

Apparently, Smokey was not too happy with Cash eating so close to him. Poor Mike was in for a wild ride. Smokey tried to assert his dominance, but being he is a 30 year old, 15.1 hand quarter horse, Cash almost laughed at it. Cash was a 17.0 hand, 10 year old, and he jumped straight into the air, squealing and bearing teeth. Smokey turned around and began to strike out furiously. I was really worried that this was going to turn out terribly.

After about 2 minutes, the boys settled down and life went back to normal. Everyone was eating their own grass and being very peaceful. Poor Mike was in shock though. He hadn't spoken in almost 5 minutes and he was still holding on for dear life. Long story short, Mike has not ridden with us since then.

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