In which Jason rides along with us and helps our horses learn new skills

 Duana's husband Jason is a hardcore mountain biker

currently recovering from shoulder surgery.

He wanted to come along on our Sunday Trot, and we were happy to have him.

He's back on the bike and ready to crash it again.  Sigh.

Well, the riders were happy to have him along.  The horses, especially Fiddle, were deeply dubious and slightly knotheaded about having a bicycle in the group.  

We started with Jason behind the horses by six or seven lengths, but that was too "predatory," according to the Dragon.  

Okay, then.

We frequently meet bikes on the trails where we ride.  Most are lovely people
who pull their bikes off to the side, and feed our ponies cookies on request
(we carry cookies to hand to bikers for this purpose)

We know that the horses aren't afraid of bikes on the trail, and we know that they aren't afraid of Jason (Fee saw J in the parking lot and immediately picked up a front foot as a "trick" so he would feed her a cookie).

So, we moved the pieces around, and put Jason in front.

Jason is definitely not scary when we approach him

With the bicycle in front, we can approach at our own speed.

Jason was very patient with this process, and kept talking as we rode
so Fiddle could hear a familiar person speaking

Soon,

Still chatting, Fee and I trotted down the trail with the bike beside us

the bicycle became part of the herd.  

fully integrated

 We played the "Pass-me/Pass-you" game.  Jason zoomed down hills, and we zoomed up them.

And best of all, during bear season:

"Mister Bear Bait" leads the way

it's good to go out on the trails with friends.