Meet me in a couple hours

Another great day for riding in No. Texas. Hubby and I loaded up Hank, Gambler, and the dog, Thelma, and headed over to the trails. I was meeting Dolly for a quick 2 hour ride. While the hubby likes to trot out some, he has not been able to ride enough between work to get in shape to trot as much as we do when conditioning, so he went one direction, to take an easy 5 or so mile ride with the dog tagging along, while Dolly and I did one of the 10 mile loops. We have an extensive trail system, that has multiple loops, all coming back to the same central camp area. The loops were designed with endurance and CTR rides in mind, with 2 - 15 mile loops, and 2 - 10 mile loops, and one 25 mile loop. Over the years the trails have shifted some, and mileage is not as it used to be, but they are close. Each loop has colored paint markers on trees and posts, along with mileage markers for each loop. Here is a map, just to give you an idea of what the trails look like. And of course, we are often going part of the way on one loop, then changing to another. We also have miles of unmarked trails through out the Grasslands. (click photo for larger version if curious)


So, off we go, with a goal of trying to do about a 5mph pace. The weather was warming up, and both horses worked up a bit of a sweat. Hank was a little doggy in the beginning, but I think he was confused that Gambler came in the trailer with him, then went the other direction. About 1/2 way through the ride, he perked up, as he knew we were now heading back towards the trailer, instead of away from it.

When we got back at camp, I was not surprised that Gambler was tied to the trailer, saddle put away, and the dog was laying down in the shade. But I was surprised to hear that hubby got to the short cut I suggested he take to head in making his smaller loop, and decided they were not done yet, and wanted to ride further, and finished out the loop back to camp. Might get him back in shape after all !

Weather looks not bad the rest of the week. I have been working on a few projects / repairs on my camper. Had some issues with the fridge when on the propane setting, and I got that fixed, and had to replace an outside section of wood and siding under the door. Now to check to see if any of the darn mud dabbers have made any nests over the summer in the water heater area, or if they have stuffed grass in the water fill spigot. Decided to do the projects before the weather turns cold again, in case I want to go some place with the camper. Might just be doing that shortly.... thinking about it. (more to follow) :-)