Saturday, January 23, 2010

Yay! Two days of riding!!

How have I not blogged yet about last weekend? It could be that I was too busy riding! :)

Saturday DeeDee picked me up from the house at 10 am and we went out to get Sinwaan. We then trailered out to Madame Dorian at the Wallula junction. This is a fantastic place to ride in the winter because the footing is usually always great (sand) and the trail takes you out about 5 miles from the parking lot. DeeDee parked in a different spot, so I would guess we did about 7-8 miles. We really had a great ride, most of it I even got to shed my coat and was in just a t-shirt - in January!! It was phenomenal.

Sinwaan did great. He had one little spook at a white bush and was slightly edgy when we got close to the hunters and the gun shots were going off at the ducks but I have no complaints. He worked hard for me. We did a variety of walking, trotting and even some cantering. At the end (half-way) we stopped to let the horses take a rest before turning back around. DeeDee busted out the goodies. She fed the horses all kinds of treats, including Good & Plenty. I never would have thought to give a horse that, but Sinwaan loved them. So did the dog!

DeeDee's dog, Shiloh was a great little tour guide. She ran ahead of the horses and knew all the trails. DeeDee could tell her "right" or "uphill" and she knew just which way to go. The only drawback was that she ran herself into some sticker bushes and we had to stop so DeeDee could pull them out.

Coming back Sinwaan was feeling lively, leading at the trot, and there was a tumbleweed in the trail. He JUMPED over it. I was not expecting that! Kind of fun! A short time later he jumped another one. Silly horse.

I had a wonderful time. The horses seemed to get along great. I am thankful to DeeDee for the transportation and good company! Weather report said 60% chance of rain, but we never saw it on the trail.

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Sunday I met Leila and we went out to Sinwaan's pad for take-off. When we got to the barn the sun was shining and it was a gorgeous day, Very promising! I was expecting Sinwaan's usual shenanigans riding out from his home, but saw none. Must be tired from the ride yesterday! Leila and I got out about 2 miles and it got overcast. The sky started spitting a little. It wasn't horrible so we kept going. At about the 1/2 way point it started raining. Too late to turn back now. We did a fair amount of trotting. As we walked by Jenee's place she came out to wave hello. I hollered "Isn't this wonderful? Don't you wish you were riding with us?" Jenee' shook her head Nooooo way! :) We were pretty well soaked by the time we got back to the barn, but I didn't mind. It was a good ride, very refreshing. Hee hee. Another 5.8 miles!