Tic Tac Toe, 3 Cobs in a Row

My Mom came home from FL yesterday and today was her last day before returning to work. So after our farrier visit, we went for a trail ride. By process of elimination (DaVinci worked yesterday, Dottie does not work after the farrier and Winston is a bit unpredictable) the 3 Cobs were chosen. This ride was going to be on near by trails, not Peggy's, and meant going on the roads. A first for Roscoe in addition to riding with a mare.
Just in case, I made sure I was on Roscoe before Mom brought Rosemary into the arena. He was aware of her right away, but he listened when I told him to focus on me. Then it was time to head out. We tried putting Rosemary first, Comrade next and Roscoe at the end. I was able to get a picture :)

1, 2, 3 Cobs YAY!

Soon we realized that Roscoe was out walking Comrade. Time for a switch, Mom circled Rosemary to move behind Comrade while I let Roscoe pass on the other side. He took the lead with only a little hesitation. When we reached the trail head he spooked a little at the shadows I think, but he kept going. Further along there was some roots sticking out of an edge and leaves fluttering with some eroded ground. He stopped, looked around, thought about it, realized it was not going to eat him and he walked on. Then he was off with a huge walk stride. I waved bye to Mom and Peggy.
His next challenge was a narrow crossing with more eroded ground. Roscoe stopped dead. I asked him to move forward, but he was not ready yet. This took more looking and assessing. Mom asked if Comrade should go first, but I felt Roscoe was nearly there. I asked again and he carefully walked across.
Occasionally he would startle at who knows what. The best thing was that he did not hold on to it, did not snowball. Nothing ate him so he let it go. Sometimes he got distracted by Rosemary getting close when he turned around. He never pulled toward her though, just slowed down. He handled lots of brush and stepped over branchy logs. Then at one point we got off trail and were finding our way when an ATV starts coming up behind us. Peggy yelled at the guys to slow down. All the horses did not care one bit about the intrusion. We continued the trail, finally finding our way back to the trail head. The ATV still rumbled around near by as we walked the road back to Peggy's. I decided to try Roscoe up the drive way and face the flag. That was no problem. Nor was her seasonal decor or Sonny trotting up to the fence.
What a great ride overall. Rosemary was her typical drama queen self and Comrade was steady. Both helped give Roscoe experience. Rosemary must have warned him not to walk on dark road patches because he avoided them all. These Cobs are so great!