I went into the park and forgot the Kenny wouldn't have the gate open as church has been moved to the new location. We parked by the rest rooms and tacked up there. I have GOT to get faster at tacking up. I am SO slow. I try to take my time so I don't upset Biscuit...he still gets a little nervous being tacked up but I will start timing myself and see if I can do this faster and better! I got the heart monitor on and it was working. I made sure that I set it low down on the girth so it would work and not flicker on and off.
We mounted up and went into the woods. We walked for quiet a while and then started jogging. We jogged and walked. All nervousness of the previous rides for the horses was gone. Some of the ride Lee Ann led and some I did. We hit a small canter and Biscuit did well. We got to the first of the downed trees and Lee Ann slowed. Then she sped Rogue up to leap the tree. Biscuit got there and moved to the "sweet" place to cross and OMG he LEAPED it like a Grand National horse! I felt the back of my right thigh it the pommel and felt like I was coming out of the saddle. Biscuit was almost vertical. I grabbed his main and held on. Lee Ann said she looked back and I had gone National Velvet! I did just fine.
The horses were super sweaty because of the humidity. I later saw on TV the humidity was 100%. Biscuit's heart rate was terrific...in the 90-95 range most of the time when we were jogging. I checked my Garmin and we were going about 4.1 mph most of the time when we were jogging - some 3.5 if the jog was really slow so I think 90-95 is pretty darn good. When he hit the canter it ran up to 133 but it was a short canter so as soon as we stopped the HR dropped like a rock. For a short while Biscuit started walking really slow and Lee Ann got ahead of us a little. He did this for about a 1/2 a mile and all of a sudden, it was like he woke up from a nap, and looked around and saw Rogue way ahead of us. He put himself in a trot and caught up! He is such a funny little fellow.
We got back to the trailer and I asked Biscuit to side pass down the side of the trail about where the Groom's door is and down the Rav and past that about 4'. He did a fantastic job. I was THRILLED. We took their tack off and they were some kind of sweaty. We loaded them up and hauled back to PNR. I put Biscuit on the wash rack - Barry was tacking Sarge up when we got there. Lee Ann and I cleaned out the trailer. I even pulled the mat out of the tack closet, vacuumed the closet and washed the mat. It had "treats" in the little grooves, bits of hay, dirt, etc. It is clean now. I hosed Biscuit's legs and right on his hip where a huge mud mark was and then used a wet towel to scrub him down. I scrubbed his face and he seemed to like that. He used to be so head shy and he still can be but he is getting better. He even let me spray his face with fly spray today. What an improvement. After that I let him graze in the center of the yard while Barry rode Sarge. I scrubbed Sarge down, too.
They are putting on their winter coats and will be fuzz balls before you know it.
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