Well, the weather isn't cooperating much for the
ride today. It is raining and cold. Well, cold for Florida. Hopefully, every one
was done before the hard rain. The rest of the weekend looks pretty good.
I went up Sunday, got there late as it was raining,
traffic was bad. Just as I pulled in, the wind whipped up something fierce and
ripped off about half the awnings that were up. Port-o-lets tipped, horses were
loose and then the main tent snapped and came down. Bummer. I have to say, when
I saw the ride management, they were handling it quite well. I would have been
drinking and swearing like a sailor! Jan is very calm and collected. I am
so envious ;)
Monday was warmer than I expected but a great ride.
Thanks Tracie and Meagan! Louise, Gator's heartrate never went higher than 56.
Granted we were not pushing as it was his first 50 but even after cantering for
a while, he came in with a 50 hr and a 44/44 CRI! He is awesome!
Tuesday was very breezy. It was my boy Dinero's
first ride. What a trip. It took us 2 hours to go 7 1/2 miles. Every time I
asked for a trot, he wanted to take off. He refused to go down certain trails
and then when he saw some trees cut up that looked like pigs, he planted his
feet and said no way. Then we did 10 miles in an hour and a half. Beautiful
trails, lots of trotting at a nice pace but he still wanted to pick the trails
we went on. He never did hesitate at water.
There was a controlled burn in some of the forest
and Dinero took bites of the smoked palmettos.Yum? I finally decided to let him
canter and boy was it nice. We were just rolling along, listening to music when
all of a sudden he stopped in mid air and landed with no spring. Every bone in
my body went out of alignment. I did stay on. Guess what he spooked at? THE
BURNT PALMETTOS HE WAS JUST EATING!!! We came to the vet check, he vetted like a
pro, almost, and ate every thing we put in front of him. All I had was Advil.
We did finish in time. Yea! Overall, it was a nice
ride. The prizes and T-shirts were nice and the Valerie Kanavy saddle that
they are giving away is really nice. It is really great to have a week long ride
in our area. I wish I could have stayed all week. Goethe is a great place to
ride. Genie Spears took beautiful pictures as always. The trails are in pretty
good shape. A few new fire lanes, but the markings are perfect, thanks to
Helen Kohler I'm sure! If any one is going for the weekend, check out the
4-star trailers. Man, they are nice.
