Great Ride with a Friend

           Tuesday was a beautiful day out.  Today was sunny, no wind, with a high in the 60’s.  I posted on Facebook that today was going to be a great day to ride.  I had a friend who texted me back and wanted to meet to ride.  But I still had racks and boxes, from the store, in the horse trailer. I told her that I would be riding the fields around my home and I would love to have her ride with me.  It gets lonely riding alone!

            She came by noon, we were saddled and in the fields by 12:20!  We rode 11 miles in 3 hours, with the time flying by.  Within the first hour, we kicked out a herd of 5 deer, than about ½ mile away and across a road, we kicked out 12 more!  Then about a ½ hour later, we saw 2 deer that seemed to be struggling to get through brush, and we wondered if they had been injured during hunting season.  We also saw some hawks.  Hawks do seem to be plentiful this year.

            Normally, I trot a lot.  But I knew Shaggy wasn’t conditioned and would not last, for over 10 miles that we had planned, if I did too much trotting.  3 hours of walking and some trotting was just fine.  We traveled around the fields, and we visited. It was nice to get to know someone, who I have known for years, better.

            I did some extended trotting and some loping circles while Cindy walked or trotted on.  We rode some areas that I haven’t ridden before, exploring some new fields while we had the time.

            We had a wonderful time.  Chatting like old friends.  Topics moved easily from one to another.  And before we knew it, we had only 20 minutes left to our ride.  I decided to go the long way, and get one more ½ mile of trotting in then finishing our ride in an easy walk back to the barn.

            By the time we arrived back to the trailers, the horses were cooled down.  I put Shag back into his lot and Cindy un-tacked and left.  I got a cup of coffee and a snack, than unpacked some boxes from the horse trailer.  I didn’t want some books and clothes to draw damp over the next 2 wintery months.  After that, I still had time to ride Duke, and took him to the field for an hour.  I didn’t lunge him first, and it showed.  It’s amazing what 5 or 10 minutes on a lunge line will do for the attitude of a recently gelded stud.

            I finished my day with riding while the sun was setting.  What a beautifully orange sky, spreading horizontally across the prairie landscape.  The sun was bright until it set low enough that I could just watch the sky.  I had that setting the whole time I was riding Duke. 

            This was a wonderful way to end a wonderful day.  I wonder how many more of these days we will have until spring.