Young horses and staring on the trail

[julienne.rha.b@bayer.com]

Hey everyone,
I have a question for those of you with experience riding youngsters on the
trail.  My new mare is pretty good about taking the lead.. if she balks, I can
give her a kick/nudge and she'll walk on pretty well.  However when we're
walking or trotting along the trail in the lead, she'll stare at everything
along the sides of the trail and swerve, making nice S-curves as we go.  I can
push with my leg and rein to get her back in line, but I was wondering, is this
a youngster thing?  Will she eventually get used to "new" things to look at
along the trail and focus foward?  I notice when we're in "power trot" mode
she'll look less and concentrate on forward..  but we can't do that everywhere
we go..  I realize it could be much worse - she could be a jumper or spinner. :)
But I'm finding that I have to ride "on the defense" to make sure to anticipate
her swerving and keep her straight (and me on!)  Any thoughts?

Julienne
&Isabella (logs are my arch-enemy!!)