Weekend

 J and I were able to get on trail this weekend. I had hoped to have a full set of shoes on Ashke before hand, but he managed to shed both fronts in fifteen minutes of arena riding. The left was reset a second time, but when he managed to twist off the right front, I decided to just remove the shoes and wait until after our show in September to try again (by that point his left front would have had three sets of holes). We thought about doing Soapstone Prairie, but the pending stormy weather made J uneasy, so we opted for Chatfield.

 It was incredibly green, especially in contrast with every where else.

 I set up Poke eggs to hatch while I was riding. It tracked distance really well, except some of our canters were too fast. I managed to hatch all nine on our ride.

 I mostly let Ashke pick his gait. This was a refresher day for both of us.

 This was J's view. It was so overgrown and actually difficult to ride through.

She ended up getting stung by a bee pressing through overgrowth on one of the trails.

 Ashke kept wanting to be very close to her.

A couple of times he would reach out to touch her and pin his ears. He wanted the peppermints she had in her pack.

He seemed very happy.

And he obviously knew when she was filming him.

 Poser.

Cantering. His canter on trail has gotten very soft and slow.

I think it will be even better once his feet are taken care of.

We got down to Plum Creek and he splashed and played in the water. When he came out he was lame. I stopped and pulled off his boots, finding them completely full of gravel and rock. They went into J's pack and we did the rest of the ride bare. He actually felt better bare and we were riding on mostly grass. Very little rock there. 

Then we got to the lake and he drank very well, then played in the water. He really wanted to lay down. Maybe next time, I will pull tack and let him really play in the water. 

 

Riding the verge on our way to the trailer. He cantered most of the way from the lake to the trail. I just got a bit tired of trying to predict which weeds he was going to decide to launch himself over. We did 12.5 miles in just about 3 hours (with a stop about half way to let Ashke graze).

On Sunday, we hauled to Dowdy Draw in Boulder, at the base of Eldorado Springs. I met B and L there and we did a walking trail ride along Community Ditch, with a loop at the lower edge of Marshall Lake, then back along Community Ditch. It was a great ride and wonderful company. J got pretty toasted, since it was supposed to be cloudy and rainy and instead it ended up at 91 degrees. It was hot.

Me with L on Satori behind us.

 Heading for Community Ditch.

Dazee, B's mare, will cross bridges, provided another horse is willing to sacrifice themselves first. 

So, we worked on it.

The ride was beautiful. The lower loop from Community Ditch down to the Marshal Lake parking lot and then back up to the Ditch is on my top ten list of trails in the area.

 And you can't beat the views.

 L on Satori.

Ashke decided Dazee was his girl and was a good, head wagging trail poneh as long as he was close to her. He got jiggy when Satori was between them.

Best pic of the day.

B on Dazee, me in the middle and L on Satori to the right.

Our version of an oreo. 

I am so sore, especially my left shoulder, since I spent as much time as possible using my left hand on the reins to get it strong and working correctly. Six hours in the saddle over two days. We did about 9 miles on Saturday in just about 3 hours. J was over hot and pretty sunburned, but otherwise it was a great ride. 

 Back at the barn, hosing Ashke off, I found this sticking out of the back of his hoof/leg.

It was just under the skin, but still. Really?

I'm so done with the freak injuries. 2016 can be finished with me now.