Lots of Great Riding and another new saddle :)

This week we got a few excellent rides in, along with all the usual choretime and training. It's surely moving into Vermont's Fifth season.. mud ! Vermont still has plenty of snow too- especially in the woods where the sun can't heat things up as well. Zoe and I have continued to ride the dirt roads, which alternate between firm in spots to quite squishy in others. I love my Barefoot London saddle so much I bid on another model- the Cheyenne, for a change in style. Also, the flaps and billets on the London render it to be a saddle for horses with a big barrel- so I can't use it on my favorite pony mounts. The Cheyenne will be perfect for them and fits my Keri perfectly too. It's just as comfortable and I like it just as much. Here is Keri posing reluctantly as we saddle up for a trot out with OYY Elektra. She's a tad cranky that she is not riding out with her best buddy Teasel.

Here's a somewhat unspectacular photo of Elektra- named after my great aunt who lives on the Isle of Crete. We did have fun trotting out .. but because our window of time for a ride was rather limited- we could only travel the usual, boring, shorter route. Keri did get the chance to go out with her pal, Teasel during the week, another quick loop- we got some great trotting and a little cantering in. Poor Teasel, we had traffic from both directions- and with the roads being more narrow and muddy than usual, we kept as far to the side as possible-- but whoops-- too far for "T" because he took a step down into the deep ditch, hidden by all the snow-- and was immediately sucked into the "black hole" past his belly. That was a big surprise ! And now, he seems a bit suspicious of the side of the road.

During the ride, Zoe and I were plotting a longer adventure for Saturday. We decided to try what we call the Cummings Road loop, which includes a stretch of rough trail connecting the two ends of Cummings Road-- that section has been abandonned and is never traveled. We thought with all the melting we've been experiencing.. it would be fairly passable.

The trip starts out traveling over Flamstead Road, actually one of my more preferred routes- over Crow Hill. The views are some of the best in our area. As we come down off the hill, we decided to take a quick trot into town - where we have to cross the little bridge and trek into Chester Depot. Keri and Teasel are very excited because they adore a trip into town and especially- as anyone who has read my blog posts from last year-- they love trotting down the sidewalks. So- after this zippy foray through the little town- we backtrack a bit to Cummings Road.

There is surely mud here !

And we reach the end-- months of snow piled up-- we have to climb this to get onto the connecting trail. There is still more here than I had thought there would be !

Here's the part of the road which has been abandonned- this is a pretty rough trail even in summer and with Teasel's recent fall into the deep ditch scare.. he's understandably skeptical of the idea. The snow is deeper than it looks and there are rocks and brooks to navigate.. so I did not get any photo's of the actual slog and trudge as we "waded" through to the other side. It was fun, but the horses were definitely ready to walk when we reached the other end-

Back on "terra firma".

We got out onto Route 11 and trotted briskly up the long hill on the highway toward home... all of us happy with our great ride out.

You can see more about the voyage and more photo's on my blog. Also, a photo of why you don't try to boil down sap inside your house !

I don't get a chance to post much here on the RAC blog .. seems I have trouble keeping up on my own blog- but certainly enjoy seeing everyone else's exploits out and about on their Curlies.

Looking forward to the mini-contect-- the obstacle course was my favorite last year. We'll be setting up our course from last year soon and also try to think up the same obstacles out on the roads and trails for an extra challenge.

Enjoy your day ~ Betsy and Zoe