What can we get into now?

Otherwise known as Three Blind Mice.

Thanks Doug for the photo and the captions!

Sinwaan, Ali and Andy at the watering hole.

Bennington Lake

Ruth, Heather and myself had a great ride at Bennington Lake today. Weather was great, horses did wonderful and it is exciting to see how thrilled Heather is with her new Standie! We did lots of trotting today and even had a canter up a hill.

Thursday ride

Matt had been talking about going to the model train meeting tonight and the kids got all excited about going with him. He usually takes Levi but this would be a first for Ellie. So that meant I had the evening free to go riding! I asked Ruth if she was also game to go out on a ride and she was, so she hauled Sinwaan and we went out to Madam Dorian.

We had a great ride with a lot of trotting but the sand was quite deep and Sinwaan tired out by the time we turned around to head back on the gravel road. Blue is a little trailer-sour (or sweet?) and took off in this awesome floating speedy trot. Man that mustang can move! Sinwaan would trot along at his own pace, then canter a bit to try and catch up and tire out and need a break. He is still overweight and a bit out of shape, but we're working on that. Hopefuly with being worked/ridden twice a week he will get back in shape by the end of next month for Bare Bones, should I be able to do that ride.

In one section the mosquitos were really bad and I was shooing them and killing them and knew I could be in trouble since I have bad reactions to their bites. I usually get a welt that lasts about a week. I had some itching on my back thighs but tried not to scratch it too much.

The sun was setting as we rode back toward the trailer and I ran over a snake. I am certain it was dead, about a foot+ long but it could have been a baby rattler by the markings. Then Ruth spotted two bucks - we had seen a couple deer here and there but these bucks had some racks - maybe 3 points or so, and it was neat to see them. They vanished as quickly as they appeared and we later saw them about 1/2 mi down the road ahead of us again, bounding and bouncing and jumping fences into the orchard next door.

Weather was perfect today for riding, not too hot. Probably mid 80s in the middle of the day, cooler by the time we were finishing up.

Bennington Lake - 7 miles

Today I met up with Ruth, Heather, Laurie and Annie for a ride at Bennington Lake, thanks to the graciousness of the Fleischers who let me use their older Dodge to haul my trailer. My truck is out of commission at the moment.

I parked at the bottom and saw Ruth drive by to park at the top. I tried calling her but my phone had a problem. So I tacked up and hoped I would take the right trail to meet her. I decided to go along the water that borders Rook's Park since last time I saw Laurie I thought she had mentioned that she rides over the bridge there to get to Bennington.

I didn't see Laurie but when I reached the spillway I did catch a glimpse of two riders approaching. I waved and they waved back. I couldn't tell yet if it was "my people." As they got closer I could tell it was Heather astride Bunny and Ruth riding Blue. I had seen a couple photos but never met their new horses so it was nice to see them in the flesh. We talked for a moment about what to do and decided to head back towards the bridge to meet Laurie and Annie. We saw Laurie on Otto first, proudly donning her life vest. She has a protective riding vest en route in the mail but until it arrives this one works well to keep her safe should Otto launch her. It was only a moment longer until Ruth saw Annie galloping towards us down a distant hill.

All together now we headed out on the trails around the lake. We mostly walked, given this was Bunny's first time out and Blue is recovering from a fetlock injury that had him in a cast the past month! I had remembered my GPS today and watched as the miles ticked by. Eventually it was time for Heather to get back home so Ruth and Heather dismounted in the upper parking lot, we all chatted for a bit and then I continued on with Annie and Laurie. We picked up the pace and trotted and cantered down the path back to the spillway. It felt good to let Sinwaan out as he enjoys a brief gallop.

All told we did about 7 miles in two hours today. It was so nice to ride with all the ladies and I look forward to doing this again soon.

Thursday

I had Cassandra ride Sinwaan today. Because I didn't report on it the day it happened I can't remember what she reported back to me.

Bennington Lake ride

I hauled Sinwaan out to the Lake today for a real 'trail' ride and we had a great time. Although most of the ride we did solo, we did come across Laurie Lodgsdon and her friend Julia at the top of the dam. We rode together and chatted for about a mile or two. It was so nice to be out on a dirt path instead of the road.

Thursday work

I had Cassandra ride Sinwaan again today since I knew I wouldn't be out until this weekend and he's already had a good three weeks off recovering from his fall. He is sound now and recovered nicely.

She said she used her own bit on him today and said he was responding well to dropping his head down, but was dropping it too far and was still heavy on the forehand. He was tripping a bit. It sounds like she has more things to teach both of us to make riding out on the trail more pleasurable. We talked about farrier dates and different types of shoes to look into to increase our safety on the roadside (grip). He is way too fat still but hopefully with some more work in the near future he will start losing some weight.