Gorgeous Day

Saturday was beautiful. No wind. No clouds. Predicting snow on Tuesday. I talked the wife and the boy into going for a ride with me.

We packed up the bikes. Stopped by Subway for sandwiches. Water and gatoraide and we were off. The only downer was that N couldn't come.

T wanted to do the canal and try to find this dirt bike park I told him about six months ago. The last time we tried to find it we got to this point and T didn't want to look any further. I saw the park on the way down from Table Mountain on the Rattlesnake ride. 

We found the bike park and stopped there for lunch. I brought a halter for Ashke so he could graze while we ate.

My sandwich was pretty good. 12" Italian BMT on italian bread, split with J. She gets the cheese.

Ashke and I hung out near the little park, while we both ate, and he was very curious about why the bike riders kept coming down the hill. Finally, he asked me if we could go check it out. I followed him up the hill and we stood near one of the bike jumps, watching.

T was pretty excited to try the moguls. There was a kid there that was really good and he kept jumping right next to Ashke, who thought it was kind of interesting the first time and decided he really didn't want to keep watching after the third time.

T did pretty good for his first time. He didn't want to ride home, after.

The park was pretty cool. We really should have just back tracked on the canal, but I had to explore some first. I ended up walking up 54th to Easley, then riding the shoulder on Easley until we got back to the access to the canal. T was pretty cranky by then. He struggles to ride at the slower speed that Ashke can maintain.

As we were riding down the trail, Ashke saw himself in the window of a building we rode past. He stopped and checked himself out.

 I gave J the camera and asked her to take some pictures of me on our way back.

Ashke loved the ride. He seemed a little off on his front left, and I think it was the boot. I stopped several times to check, but couldn't find a reason for the slight hesitation.

 He spent the entire ride with his ears up. He seemed really happy to get out on the trail. J said he even dropped about 3" while we were riding.

I spend so much of my time watching how he steps, where he steps, how his legs move.

 We did a lot of miles at the trot and Ashke handled it great. He was a little sweaty when we got back, but not too bad.

J says he is starting to get his floaty trot while I am riding him. 

His mouth was pretty foamy and wet. He was very forward when he knew we were going home.

 

This is my favorite pic of the day. Ashke looks amazing. There is something, though. Do you see his RH leg? He swings it inside when he moves it forward. I plan on talking to Diane about it when we see her. I think it is getting better as he is getting stronger. 

He went out with the same attitude as he came home with - eager, happy, willing.

When we hit the grassy area where we always canter, Ashke wasn't real happy to trot. We did one small canter in a very small circle as I worked to get him under control again. It was to the left and very balanced. Hahahahaha.

This is my second favorite picture. He looks magnificent. And the saddlebags aren't too bad, are they?

I texted N when we got back and she came over. We let the ponies chase each other around in the outdoor arena and then put them away. Ashke did get rinsed off for the first time in a while. Once they were tucked into their stalls, N and J and I cleaned out N's horse trailer. We are doing Bear Creek tomorrow.