Tuesday evening ride

Today was warm, but not as sweltering as it has been, so I took advantage of the mid 80-degree weather and went out to the barn about 6:30 PM. My goal was to get Sinwaan groomed, tacked up and out of there before feeding time. He walked over and met me at the gate, glad to see me I guess. The last time I was out was just to pick up his saddle pad for washing, and to feed him an apple.

First I put him in the round pen to work off a little steam since he hasn't been ridden in over a week. Yes, much of that was vacation time for him after our tough Renegade ride, but past experiences tell me that he can be hot to trot with too much time off. He took every opportunity to steal bites of weeds from the ground while waiting for me to open/close the gates but then was quite responsive in the round pen. I had him trot for about 5 min each direction and since he was willing and quiet I called that good enough and into the barn we went for a quick grooming session.

He was quite clean, surprisingly enough, and it didn't take much time at all for me to brush him down with a stiff brush and straighten out his mane and tail. His front hooves have the pads so no picking there and they look good. His hind feet were pretty clean also. I tacked up with my old reliable Wintec and a freshly washed saddle pad, and skipped the breastcollar tonight. He put his head down to be bridled and was very quiet. Well maybe we'll have a stellar ride, huh old boy?

Walking down the drive he hesitated a little but seemed glad to be doing something with his person (me). We had a purpose, a mission. My goal for the evening was approx. 6 mi in about 1 hour. As I was about 50' down the road from the driveway I saw a van pull in. Hmmm...feeding time? Well, we made it out just in time.

I wasn't too concerned about holding him back tonight, except while crossing the road. He wanted to trot so I encouraged it and we had a nice jaunt up Elliot road. Then he noticed there was alfalfa growing in the field to the left. So he tried to trot along the edge and snatch at weeds within his reach. I scolded him and kept him going. At the end of the lane before it turns I pulled him over and let him have a bite from some alfalfa that was growing outside the field's perimeter. Yum, he loved that. The next section of road was a bit of a battle. He was back to his old tricks of stop and go away from the barn. He used the excuse that there was a man in the field to the right and he needed to keep an eye on him, so for awhile he walked along with his head swung around clear to the right. Well at least he was moving forward.

On the dirt trail he got back on my program and we had a nice fast trot (10 mph?) and then a steady canter that was really nice, and he kept it up for awhile. We slowed down and walked through the 'junkyard' and just about then the man from the field showed up and rode his 4-wheeler down the lane ahead of us. Slowing to a walk was really an eye-opener for me to experience why you should always trot your horse in the sun and walk in the shade. Trotting and cantering along we had made our own breeze and felt quite comfortable. At the walk, however it suddenly hit me how hot it was. My arms started glistening and I could just feel the sweat taking over my body. YUK! There was a patch of green grass at that intersection, so I encouraged Sinwaan to stop and graze for awhile so the dust could settle before we proceeded down the trail. He was happy to oblige.

The dust was so thick and dry today, it was like baby powder. It hung in the air with the lack of a breeze and took quite some time to clear out so we could ride onward without breathing it all in. Just as we had started on our way again, getting back into our groove at a nice trot, Sinwaan started acting worried about something behind him, and I thought I heard a truck. So I looked back and saw nothing. A couple of minutes later a large flatbed truck appeared and was slowly approaching. He was creeping. I pulled Sinwaan to the side of the road and waved the truck on. He slowly crept past us and slowly drove up the road. I don't know if he was being polite to avoid scaring the horse, or trying to keep the dust down. Either way, he was very nice to be so considerate. Well even with him driving at a snails pace, the dust was again very thick. So I let Sinwaan eat some more.

We trotted on up the road to the tree, not quite the end of the road (the dust was still thick enough farther on that I didn't want to ride in it and the rocky section at the same time) and turned around. Sinwaan was happy to be heading back for the barn and his DINNER. We did a super big trot for about a mile and then I asked him to canter to use different muscles. We cantered about a half mile and then slowed and walked across the railroad tracks and back onto Elliot Rd. I thought Sinwaan might want to walk for awhile to cool out a little, he was started to look pretty sweaty. Nope, he wanted to get on home. So we trotted and trotted and trotted until we got to the other railroad crossing (heaven help us if a train ever comes through there) then I made him walk down the hill and then we picked up a trot again. Coming around the last corner he really stepped it up to his fast gallop up the hill but tired out at the top and we proceeded at a more reasonable speed.

A couple of places the sprinkler system for the crops had come over into the road and we timed it just right to get past those without getting wet (although that may have felt really good!) The last half mile or so I made Sinwaan walk and he wasn't thrilled about it but obeyed with no head tossing (yeah!). We got back to the barn and saw the gals doing the chores and feeding. They have been taking great care of Sinwaan in Darold's absence.

I put Sinwaan in the shower stall and hosed him down before putting him away in his paddock. He dove right into his dinner.

We had a lovely ride this evening. I was gone from the house about 2 hours tonight and figure 1 hour of it was riding. I really should start wearing my watch so I can be more accurate but for now this is a pretty good guess.