The first of anything

I thought I'd write because this is the first day I took Becky the dog on the trail, and the first day I rode my own big young horse into the dam by myself. I always plan to do all these brave things at night before going to sleep, and then in the morning I realize I am nowhere near as brave as I pretend to be at night or as brave as my warm, safe bed makes me feel. But then today I just did it. To get to the trail, you have to walk a lot of the way in the beginning along a busy road. So I didn't bother even getting on Dewey, because Becky is not used to being walked by someone who is riding a giant horse, and Becky is not good at being walked if ANYTHING else interesting is going by, because she is a puppy. So I stayed on the ground to not be launched into the air when she she tried to dart forward at another dog, or at a squirrel, or at anything, and she is strong! I'm pretty sure she is why the horse magazines say never walk your dog while on your horse. It was good to take Becky, though, once we walked all the way to the tunnel and got into Hansen Dam (or Handsome Dan as my sister says) because it's always good to have a puppy around when you have a young horse and everything you're doing is new. I knew if I rode into the dam just by myself, I would be hyper aware of Dewey and all Iminent Disaster, but because I had to be a scout, and keep my eyes open for other dogs, other riders, keeping my eye on Becky and seeing how she would do out in the dam for the first time (no dam etiquette), it kept me from worrying about Dewey and weirdly, made everything okay. I did have to get on and off at first, when we saw runners, or other people with dogs, because I wanted to make sure Becky knew to not chase people, bark at people, run off, etc. Training. But it turns out if you have a pocketful of ham, dogs come running right back when you call them. I was flinging ham all over that trail, and Becky was my trained seal. She did bark at a few people (she didn't know any better), but mostly she trotted along a little in front of us, and kept stopping and coming back - she knew she was a team with me and Dew. She was so exemplary, really, for a first time trail pup. And she eased my nerves because Dewey just followed along behind her, and enjoyed her company too. Plus he liked that I kept getting off because he got to stand there which is his favorite thing to do. We splashed through two creeks, and at one point when Becky obviously started worrying that we were nowhere near home, she started whining a little like what the hell, when is this going to be over? But then she settled back down, we went over a small mountain on a detour home, and then suddenly we were back. 2 hrs and 15 mins. We walked and trotted around the lake, we started in the mist, and ended up sweating in the sun. Everyone safe and sound. Happy, and having done the hardest thing. The first try.