I always loved it when Cuzco would accompany my friends and I on horseback rides back in Lake City. He was an amazing trail companion and always kept up with the horses even when we would gallop. Cuzco is too old to follow horses any more, but Finn is at the perfect age to learn, and since he’s a buckling just coming into rut, all the more reason for me to take him out in a way that I can enjoy his company from a safe distance.

Finn was not the least bit afraid of the horses, and my friend Jordan’s horse is gentle with goats–a good way to start him out! Finn stayed faithfully by my stirrup for almost the entire ride. He was quite nervous at first because he couldn’t figure out where I was. I would call his name and he would look in every direction except up. He kept up a steady racket for the entire first half of the ride until he finally figured out that I hadn’t disappeared–I was just up on the horse.