What an amazing way to spend a Saturday!

Today was my first ride that counts toward RAC, and it was amazing!!!  Both my friend, Lara, and I had told our husbands that we would not be riding this weekend because Lara was not feeling well and I was trying to let my body heal from some chiropractics I had done a few weeks back.  All week long we stood strong on this stance, until last night. Then we started talking to each other on facebook about how it was going to get up to 46 degrees and be sunny.  We both hinted to each other that we wanted to ride but neither one came right out and said it until Lara finally said "You know that if you said "I don't care about the cold or it being slippery, I need to ride because I need stress relief " you know that I would be there at 9:30 to get you!!!! You know that I am up for a ride anytime!!!"  Of course my answer was yes!!  So we met at Standing Stone park which is a short 5 mile ride for me.  It is nice to have someplace so close to ride, the only drawback is that the trails are actually old logging trails and you may ride a mile or two out and then you have to ride the same trail back.  For the life of me I don't know why they don't interconnect them.  Shya was in a wonderful mood and it didn't even bother her that her sister wasn't there and she was all about whinnying when her paint "friend" Vegas showed up.  She has a love/hate relationship with him.  He is a former stud and occasionally gives her that "Lothario" look which just seems to tick her off.  She usually pins her ears back and squeals at him, but not today.  They were best friends, even riding next to each at some points, through her own choice.  She was forward moving and in great spirits, just taking in the scenery.  We rode a mile down the road to check out a trail, only to find out it ended 100 feet into the woods, what a bummer.  So we turned around and headed back on the road we had rode in on.  Both Lara and I agreed that we wanted to ride longer and would do the loop on the other side of where we had parked.  I figured Shya would get all grumpy about it, but she didn't.  We even stopped at the horse trailers and tied the horses up for a few minutes while we grabbed a few things.  I untied her and hopped back on, totally expecting resistance from her when I asked her to head toward the trail, nope. It was just pretty much a walk ride because the trails were so slippery but it was very enjoyable.  Shya has come so far from the horse I bought over 4 years ago.  Back then she acted like she hated being ridden and did not enjoy trail riding.  She would actually get to points on the trail where she would just stop and refuse to move forward.  It didn't even matter to her that the other horses were leaving her.  She would actually turn around and head back to the trailer and I would have to fight her to make her stay with the other horses.  So to have a ride like I had on her today is truly amazing!