I got home from Dallas at 11:15 PM Friday night. Tossed and turned til 3:45 AM & Barry said "wanna go to the park now?" Up and out of bed, getting stuff ready. Loaded up the boys and left at 5:20 AM and made it to Ebenezer at 7:25 AM and that included a stop at Wal Mart in Jasper.
I wet Red down and we saddled up and hit the trail with a ton of people...well, Esther counted 39 but that is quiet a bit of folks. Red led the way for a little but he moves slow in the front. He was forward at the beginning but slowed down. We went up Eagle's Nest and then down the steep hill. The worst he was all weekend was going down that hill. He wanted to run/trot/etc. and gave me a fit going down. I won. Love my new saddle! I poured water on him once. He crossed the log that he has hesitated or refused before with ease. Woot. Down to the water and he stood in knee deep water enjoying himself. Up and out we came and we jogged, loped a little. Around and down some and Red literally powers up things. OMG is he strong. We went down to the water on the other side and I got Red in up to the point of his shoulder and water spilling in my boots. That was ok because I was afraid of him over heating. He was in deep enough that I could easily splash water on him and I got him soaking wet. We stood in the water for 20 minutes so I know his core was cooled down which was good.
I had to use my crop to get him out of the water. I was nearing the trail up off the beach and looked down and lo and behold was my Canon lens cap that I lost a few months ago! Who would have thunk it? Wow Wee!!!
Red was a little tired I could tell and we went the last part mostly walking, some jogging but when I got back to the trailer there was some sweat under his bridle and his neck, chest and under his saddle. Woot! I hosed him down and put him in a shaded corral and we went to lunch at The Stump. I took a nap afterward
We didn't ride the evening ride as it was supposed to rain. It did rain some on them but the lightening popping around was enough to keep me, Barry, Randy and Kellie in the camp. Esther, Denise, Kent and a few others went and Kent's little filly had a fit when they left. She was trying to jump out and caught her hoof in the gate between the rails. Ugh. We ran over to help her and she finally got her foot out without damage. I could see she had a HUGE tick in her ear. Kent came back later and removed the tick and worked her line driving. We had a wonderful time Saturday night visiting at our campsite. Woot!
Sunday morning we got up for our ride. We were going to the "Beaver Pond". Red's feet are tender after being shod Friday and he was cripping over the roads. He moved at a good pace for about 20 minutes and in spurts but he was moving slower and slower. I dumped water on him. At one point, he pulled himself off of the trail and I took my last water bottle and cooled him down with water on his shoulders and neck. He was moving like he was a 100. I was worried about him. I got after him to get going. He was wet and so off we went. We finally got up to the "Beaver Pond". Barry had lead the way. Sarge loves to be in the lead and is a total piss pot in the back! We took pictures and talked awhile there and then took off again. Red was way way way more forward then. The rest of the ride he was moving out. I was walking with James H. and we were behind and he said "can you move faster and lope to catch up" and I said yes and off we went. Red and I had two good gallops. Red feels so powerful when he is going faster than a lope. Wow wee. He did terrific the rest of the ride. At one point I know he was hurrying to catch up to Esther. He is totally in love with Esther.
We rode with Kellie and Esther and we trotted quiet a bit. We did walk quiet awhile on the way back but I was having to hold him back. I wanted to make sure he was ok. When I got back to the camp and got off I was THRILLED to see SWEAT on my boy. Under his bridle, on his neck, face, chest, under his mane and at the roots of his mane on the left side, under his front legs (really wet) under his back legs in his cookie area was WET and lifted up that tail to see two little rivulets running down his butt cheeks!!! OMG I was thrilled. No wonder he was moving much more forward. He started to sweat! I hosed him off for about 10 minutes or so until he was cooler. He was no hotter than Sarge really and his breathing returned to normal at a good rate. I tied him up to dry off while we packed up.
We ate lunch with Kellie and Randy and visited with Esther, her niece and Kent. We loaded up the horses and some people pulled in and we stopped to talk to them and ooopps forgot to open the windows on the trailer. We had them in there about 7 minutes. I popped open the door and Red was sweating on his face, neck and chest! Woot. We hauled to Lumberton and got gasoline there and he was sweating some like you would expect in a trailer. I angled the windows and when we got to PMR he was sweating but not as much as the wind was more directed into the trailer.
I put him in the wrong stall! LOL I was trying to walk him out of the stall into the paddock and he stopped dead in the middle of the stall. I looked back and he was stretched out to relieve himself. He walked into the paddock and into another stall where his fan is. LOL The fan wasn't even going so I turned it on. They play musical stall so it is hard to know where he is staying on any given day!
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