Blustery Days - rides and drives

Today - as Winnie the Pooh might say -- was a blustery day in the 100 acre wood !

" Oh the wind is lashing lustily And the trees are thrashing thrustily And the leaves are rustling gustily So it's rather safe to say It looks like a rather blustery day. " We did not receive the wonderful end of rain reward that Susan did -- what a gorgeous rainbow and a double one at that !

A very busy day - but we got out twice actually. Mid-day - Zoe took OYY Niobe out for her first trail ride... I rode my Keri as the 'nursemaid' horse. Niobe went great - she enjoyed her adventure immensely. The Treeless saddle fits her perfectly and she was brave and forward. What a nice little pony mare - maternal sister to Nimue - the Queen of Carts. It was fun to be astride Keri. This was not a long ride but a nice noon interlude. Also - not a May challenge qualifying ride, but fun.

Back to work for the rest of the day - Zoe and I decided to try for an evening ride. We saddled up around 6:30 or so... intending to just go out for a refreshing 6 mile trot. Once we were out though... the trip was altered a few times onto this trail and that -- and it was too much fun to return home.

Here are the two girls side by side -- Fee and Elektra.

Some of the time Fiona cantered ahead..

Some of the time she had to play catch up. After all, Elektra's legs are a bit longer than hers.
Actually the only time Fee is in front is when Elektra slows down and allows it.

Fiona wasted a little bit of time jumping sideways mid trot and mid canter at this and that - but it was mostly wind and leaves... she spends too much time looking right now - a few more times out and she'll quit that. I did tell her repeatedly, I'd like to return home in the saddle :)

Fiona found her 'puddle' :) so we walked through that a few times.








I love this part of the trail --

We spied a log which maybe Miss Fee can jump.... she tried to veer away but we kind of made it over.

We can work on that 'skill' (or rather lack of skill).

Exiting out onto the road -- we trot up to the turn into my road... while we were out and about, someone piled these tires here with a Free sign. The horses spotted those right off.. something new that was not there before. We urged them to approach and walk quietly all around them -- close enough, but don't tip them over !

As we head for home -- we detour into the trail that we rode earlier in the day with Keri and Niobe. We are not ready to quit our ride yet !

On the trail it's dusk enough to make photo taking difficult.

Here we are passing the little beaver pond on the trail

As the trail opens up into the big field... we pause to play a bit.. the wind is tossing the tops of the trees creating an ocean sound of sorts and the first star is out --- very pretty.

What a super evening ride :)

Now - Wednesday, Zoe and I did ride in the cart over Mount Ephraim with Miss Nimue... this is also not a May challenge task - but pretty darn fun :) I'll just post a bit especially for Donna who was curious to find out how it went. Awesome !! The long version is up on You tube. The following video's are actually of the easy parts... she did great -- the most upsetting part of the ride was when we discovered our can of salted nuts (our cart ride snack) had bounced out of the cart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZFND5ETZ6Q

We got to trot by a big herd of Belted cattle.. what a super day ~ we trotted over the mountain on one trail, drove down and around on the roads to another trail for the return trip.

More wind today -- lots of sun.. maybe we'll tackle some ground work and a bath. I need to find myself a nice flag too :)

Enjoy ~