Even though they close most of the trails here at the drop of any significant rainfall, there is an all-weather trail that goes all the way around the lake, about 12 miles, with a couple of other short connectors as well that have crushed gravel dust footing. The morning started out clear and beautiful, with some clouds moving in from the west, but we decided to take a quick ride on a loop of just under 4 miles near the north horse camp just to try out our new bitless bridles to see how the horses reacted to them. We threw them in the trailer (well, they jumped in by themselves, actually : -) and went up to the north Day Use area, and saddled them up. I decided to put boots on Apollo, which, unfortunately, meant I had to do a quick hoof trim, but we were soon on our way. They responded to the hackamores brilliantly! Actually they seemed to respond better than with a bit! We've only been using a light snaffle anyway, but I had gotten the impression that maybe part of Apollo's problem when shifting up to a canter may have been too much pressure from the bit (even though I do my best to try to remember to give him as much rein as possible, I don't always have enough time to do it before he starts to rodeo on my, and of course, when he jumps I tend to pull up on him anyway, my survivor instinct!), he seemed much more relaxed today. Although he jumped on me a tiny bit the first time we went into a canter, I think that was more out of habit than need. In any event, we did a LOT of trotting and cantering today, partly to get them used to the new bridle, partly because it was such a short ride anyway, and partly because we could see the rain moving in fast and didn't want to get caught out in it. The horses didn't seem to mind a bit, they were quite happy to trot and canter almost the whole way! We timed it perfectly, just getting the horses in the trailer and the tack put away when the rain arrived. Rather than head back to camp just to let them stand in the rain, we decided to run our errands and let them come along, so we headed up to Ft. Dodge. With stops at Boomgars for feed, then a trip to the north end of town to JRG Livestock and Pet Supply for some other feed Boomgars didn't have, then back to Walmart (Subway first, we were starving by then), some quick shopping, then back to camp. We heard on the radio that the Black Hills, where we were just a couple of weeks ago, had had over 40 inches of snow!! Brrrrr! It is supposed to get a little cooler here, but only in the low 40's, maybe 39, but not snow! Fortunately, it' due to warm up here again next week, we've already decided to stay through Thursday, then move down to Honey Creek in Missouri for a week. We have a job the following week, so we'll be heading out to a pre-arranged stable on that Friday. Meanwhile, we got everyone settled in and had a nice evening, now that the rain had cleared through!
Even though they close most of the trails here at the drop of any significant rainfall, there is an all-weather trail that goes all the way around the lake, about 12 miles, with a couple of other short connectors as well that have crushed gravel dust footing. The morning started out clear and beautiful, with some clouds moving in from the west, but we decided to take a quick ride on a loop of just under 4 miles near the north horse camp just to try out our new bitless bridles to see how the horses reacted to them. We threw them in the trailer (well, they jumped in by themselves, actually : -) and went up to the north Day Use area, and saddled them up. I decided to put boots on Apollo, which, unfortunately, meant I had to do a quick hoof trim, but we were soon on our way. They responded to the hackamores brilliantly! Actually they seemed to respond better than with a bit! We've only been using a light snaffle anyway, but I had gotten the impression that maybe part of Apollo's problem when shifting up to a canter may have been too much pressure from the bit (even though I do my best to try to remember to give him as much rein as possible, I don't always have enough time to do it before he starts to rodeo on my, and of course, when he jumps I tend to pull up on him anyway, my survivor instinct!), he seemed much more relaxed today. Although he jumped on me a tiny bit the first time we went into a canter, I think that was more out of habit than need. In any event, we did a LOT of trotting and cantering today, partly to get them used to the new bridle, partly because it was such a short ride anyway, and partly because we could see the rain moving in fast and didn't want to get caught out in it. The horses didn't seem to mind a bit, they were quite happy to trot and canter almost the whole way! We timed it perfectly, just getting the horses in the trailer and the tack put away when the rain arrived. Rather than head back to camp just to let them stand in the rain, we decided to run our errands and let them come along, so we headed up to Ft. Dodge. With stops at Boomgars for feed, then a trip to the north end of town to JRG Livestock and Pet Supply for some other feed Boomgars didn't have, then back to Walmart (Subway first, we were starving by then), some quick shopping, then back to camp. We heard on the radio that the Black Hills, where we were just a couple of weeks ago, had had over 40 inches of snow!! Brrrrr! It is supposed to get a little cooler here, but only in the low 40's, maybe 39, but not snow! Fortunately, it' due to warm up here again next week, we've already decided to stay through Thursday, then move down to Honey Creek in Missouri for a week. We have a job the following week, so we'll be heading out to a pre-arranged stable on that Friday. Meanwhile, we got everyone settled in and had a nice evening, now that the rain had cleared through!
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