Covet

Ashke and I did a ride on Sunday with K and Eddy (now to be known as Keddy or the Keds) and despite a snowstorm that left 25+ inches of snow and even deeper drifts, the trail was clear. We did the south side loop this time and had a great ride, except for a small melting of Ashke's brain when we took a wrong turn, turned back and then turned away from the trailer again. He threw a mini-meltdown until I stopped fighting with him and instead made him go forward in ten meter circles, alternating directions for ten minutes or so. That covered exactly fifteen feet of trail and he decided it was too much work. He remembered how to horse again, at that point.

We saw more Redtails than we could count, two mated pairs of Great Blue Herons, heard about a thousand red-wing blackbirds in one particular tree, and found a dead long-eared owl in the middle of the trail we took by mistake. J gently moved it out of the road (it was laying on its back with no sign of trauma) and laid it on some weeds in the grass next to the fence. (We let the State Parks people know where to find it on our way out in case they want to do a necropsy to determine cause of death.) That was a sad moment. After we wished it fair winds and strong wings wherever it might be, we continued our ride. We did 7.75 miles in an hour and twenty minutes. So far, we have ridden there four times and all four rides were an hour and twenty minutes long. Our average was just under six miles per hour and both horses looked great when we got back to the trailer.

On Monday night, Ashke and I worked on w/t/c. We also practiced going around the barrels in both directions, neck reining, small circles at a trot and canter, and some rollbacks and quick stops up and down the arena. Ashke was somewhat sweaty when we finished so I let him roll and then took my paint horse back to his stall.

Today, I got an email and found something that I must have:

They are Royal Tendon Boots by Back on Track. They come in Cob sized, which is awesome because the exercise boots I have are too big for Ashke's legs. I'm hoping these are better. I will use them for EOH and trail rides. I must have them. Mother's Day is not too far off.