A Perfect Day

Day Two of 30 Day Blog Challenge: What we did last time we rode and where we went . . .

We rode North Table Mountain today. We were both very impressed with the stamina of our horses.

It was a bit overcast, with temps in the 70's.

The climb from the parking lot (not pictured here) to the top of the Mesa is about 1000 feet. Both horses did it at a mix of trot and canter. They were a bit sweated at the top, but a two minute rest and a little bit of walking and they were cooled off and ready to go again.

N even braved her fear of heights for an amazing photo op.

Ashke was a little wild eared from Cali being so far away.

The top of North Table Mountain reminds me a lot of Wyoming. And it is amazingly big.

I love this picture. Both horses did such a great job on the ride. They both had a ton of energy, even after carrying us to the top of the Mesa.

N thought it was a perfect ride. We did lot of trotting and a bit of cantering and there was no racing or run away horse. Ashke listened and was willing to go every time I asked.

We rode up from the parking lot and main access to the Mesa, then rode down the fire access road. Ashke has definitely figured out how to get his butt under him going downhill. I was keeping very light contact with his mouth and flexing my two middle fingers in time with how slow I wanted him to step. I found I could get him to really get his butt under him and step slow on the steep parts just by slowing the flex of my fingers.

They both came back sound, although N was worried that there was slight swelling in Cali's RH, so she booted Cali for the night in her BOT standing boots. Hopefully, there are no issues and she is sound and tight tomorrow morning. Ashke was a touch tender in his front right, but not enough that anyone but me could see. I can't tell if it's his foot or him compensating for the right hip. 

 I really have a hard time figuring out how we can get to the barn at 10:45, tack up and ride out for two hours, get back and untack and it's 2:30. Sometimes I think there is some type of time zone difference when we ride.