No, I don't like that log,...seriously...

Everything is muddy and slippery, well in the areas I like to hike, that is.

Yesterday I decided to take Siera again on a hike.  The last time I took her we still had a lot of snow.

This time it was all muck and slippery mud in the woods.

We came to the first dip in the trail that has a big log across it.
I carefully stepped over and asked her to follow.

Her front feet slid into the log.  She sort of put one hoof on the log and then decided...

Forget it.  I am not going over.  I am not going to move.
Period.
You can't make me.
I don't want to.
I will stand here forever and stare at you.

I played her game for a while and let her try and decide what she should do.
This was a narrow trail with trees on each side and the briers are so thick that you cannot walk through them.

I finally got tired of the waiting game.  I know I can't coax, pull, or get her forward when she locks her legs.

So I carefully walked up to her side and then to her hindquarters.  I tapped her butt and said, "Siera, step!"

She sighed with her whole body and stepped over the log with great care.

She is a drama queen.

We then continued on our walk and she only hesitated once more when she thought we should take a different trail up the hill.

Instead I took her into a narrow valley and we crossed tangled logs, muddy ditches, and slippery obstacles.  I know this was harder on me than her!

We stopped in an open area so I could rest.  Siera looked through the woods and then decided while I was resting she'd look for something to browse on.

Soon enough we headed back on the trail and then took the uphill trail.

She only glanced at the other trail that leads back home and didn't offer to balk.

We came out on the road on the ridge where I stopped and had a 'talk' with her.

Shh, don't tell her that I was catching my breath from the steep climb.  She didn't seem out of breath at all!

One ear forward and one ear back.  She probably was thinking about the glove I tossed on her back so I could grab the camera and attempt a shot of the two of us.

We went down the road a bit, she walked on a nice loose line 'heeling' perfectly to me.
We picked up the mail on our way back from taking a look at the neighbor's sugar maple buckets.

And our hike ended.