Got up at 6:15 am and got ready for my ride. It was freezing outside and all the vehicles had frost on the windshields. I ate some oatmeal with Levi and grabbed some water bottles and a granola bar and headed out. As I came into Milton-Freewater I noticed the temp was 37 degrees. Brr! I was glad I dressed in layers. Kittee had just fed the horses so I sat and read some magazines for about 20 minutes while they ate their breakfast. I hunted around for my missing velcro strap for the HR monitor and couldn't find it at the barn. I hope I can find it at home, otherwise I will need to fashion my own. :-/
While grooming I noticed Sinwaan is shedding out, but not real bad yet. He had just started last weekend when I was out. We got tacked up and each took a turn going into to use the restroom. On the way out I noticed the time was now 8:45 am.
Kittee and I rode up Cache Hollow Rd and gave the horses plenty of walking time to warm up. We started trotting at about 3/4 mi and then trotted for 1/4 mi to the "scary place" where everyone dumps their trash. It is really sad. Once safely through there we resumed trotting and trotted probably another 1/2 mi with some cantering and then let them walk a little. More trotting and then THE HILL. We rested before climbing up it, let the horses graze about 5 minutes and then up we went. Sinwaan was hesitant so towards the end I got off and walked along with him. It was a work out, as usual. We let them rest again at the top, and I checked all Sinwaan's feet since I was on the ground anyway. I also found a knife, so I added it to my saddle bags, wahoo! That might come in handy someday.
We had a great ride up Kinnear Rd and went another 3 miles or so to the 5 mi point. For a little while Sinwaan was lagging and stopping and wanting a break but we pressed on and then found a good stretch to open them up. Sinwaan cantered along for a little while and then Derby pulled ahead of us and I told Sinwaan he better "get him!" and he opened up and off we went, we were flying, it was great fun. I didn't know he had it in him. We had one truck come upon us on the way up and it was very courteous. Kittee pointed out deer running down the mountain to our right, what a sight. Such an awesome day for a ride. Eventually I got hungry so I poked around in my pack and found a peanut butter granola bar, yeah! I also have about four other granola bars in there since it seems like every time I head out for a ride I take one with me and never eat it, so they are accumulating.
Upon turning around and heading back we soon saw a pack of four 4-wheelers (ATVs) approaching. Kittee said 'dismount' and we both did, since we weren't sure what could happen and didn't want an accident. Well the guys saw us and all pulled over and shut off their motors and we passed by and thanked them and they waited awhile before they started them up again, in fact I don't remember hearing them start up they waited that long and by then we were around the next hill. We had another couple nice canter/gallops heading home and a race up the last hill, along with a LOT of trotting. We dismounted to walk them down THE HILL and made really good time today.
We did the full 10 mi in about 2 hr 45 min which I was really pleased with. Sinwaan does much better with another horse along to keep him company, he walked in on a loose rein and gave me no trouble with racing home.
After I untacked him I led him over to some fresh grass so he could graze while I groomed him. Hairs were flying everywhere. I have him on Apple-A-Day supplement now and he doesn't care for it so today I had a syringe and some applesauce and I tried to mix it and give it that way but the syringe didn't work because some of the supplement had gathered at the tip and was like concrete, it wouldn't move so that didn't work. I tried adding this mixture to his grain and he turned up his lip and didn't want any of it. I felt kind of bad, here he works so hard for me and my "treat" for him is nothing he wants. So I caved and gave him his normal grain, SafeChoice with a sprinkle of sweet feed and he gobbled it all right down. After that I led him to the water and he drank and drank. Kittee told me to just put the other feed on the fence and someone would eat it. Goldie came over and tried it and wasn't sure she liked it either but didn't want the others to get it so she started eating it. Then Sinwaan came over and shooed her off and stuck his head in and realized he didn't really want it so I think Derby ended up eating it. Oh well.
Next we will try corn oil to try and get the supplement to stick to the grain because now it just sinks to the bottom and Sinwaan eats the grain and none of the powder. Can't blame him! Even though it smells pretty good like apples :)
Well, this was my last ride before "the big event." HOTR is next weekend, WOW I can't wait! I am excited, I hope we are ready. We are as ready as we can be in the current season's circumstances. Sinwaan will get the whole week off and then I will go out next Friday to get him ready for the trailer trip. I will report back when we return.
Driving home I passed the temp gage again and it was now 50. Couldn't have asked for a nicer day to ride. Thanks to Kittee for being a great riding partner this season!
Happy Trails. :)
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