Trail Ride on Thursday

We're riding again after a few weeks hiatus--Joyce had doctor's appts. and I had jury duty. But today we're riding in Laguna. We're leaving early, so I have to get ready now

Back again....

What a great day. The weather was perfect and the trails were beautiful. Unlike Cuyamaca where the pine trees are all dead and falling over, the Laguna traila are still beautiful with green meadows and large pine trees. We went out on the Red Rooster trailhead, a new place for me although Joyce had ridden there before. There were many running streams that we had to cross. Usually Doc is a champ at crossing water, but today he felt compelled to cross a 2-foot stream with a 4-foot jump. Whee! That was an E-ticket.

We located the trail that goes out to the lake, but didn't have enough time to go all the way out there. Next week we'll pack a lunch and do that trail.

Today was Doc's actual birthday--14 years old on Cinco de Mayo. I gave him an apple for his birthday. He was happy.

T.R.O.T.

We need to change our name from Trail Ride on Thursday to No Trail Ride on Thursday. Between vacations and bad weather (today), we haven't had many trail riding days lately. The rest of the month doesn't look good either. Joyce has obligations for two Thursdays and I have jury duty on a Thursday, too. Today was cold and windy so we canceled our ride.

The Prius had a bath this morning and the new floor mats came in, too; later Mom and I drove Spike to the vet to get his stitches out. He is good to go now.

Riding in Laguna

Today's Trail Ride on Thursday took place in Laguna. We thought it would be ok because it has been two weeks since the big snow storm. Still, there was a little snow left in the shady spots. Moreover, the water was running along some of the trails. I learned something today: Doc does not like to walk in water. He never put up a fuss before when crossing water, but he does not like to walk down a trail with water running under his feet. Everything was going so well until the end when we came across a dip in the trail with running water. Doc took a drink as he normally does, but then he took a huge jump over the water to the other side. Flying is fun.

Spike takes a Walk

Spike hasn't been wanting to walk with us for a while now. Granted, the weather has been bad until the last few days. On Saturday, however, we grabbed him before he hid in the closet and took him out the back gate. Once he was out, he was happy to go along and sniff his way on the trail around the ranch. We always have to look back to be sure he hasn't been distracted by a squirrel or intriguing aroma. Mostly, he keeps up and sometimes even passes us. When we get back home, Spike expects and gets a cookie. He's such a good boy.

Trail Ride on Thursday

Now I really feel we're back on schedule. Lesson on Wednesday and Trail Ride on Thursday. That's the name we've given to our trail riding "group" of two: me and Joyce. Others may join us from time to time, too, but it's usually only Joyce and I. This was only the second time we've gone to Cuyamaca since my accident last August. Last week we also rode in Cuyamaca because the Lagunas had quite a bit of snow from the last storm. Horses can ride in the snow (Doc likes it), but ice is problemmatic. No one wants to be slipping and sliding on ice riding on horseback, not to mention falling and being crushed by a 1,000-lb. horse.

Even Cuyamaca was somewhat challenging due to all the rain from the storm. Trails we've ridden easily before the storm were running streams last week when we rode. This Thursday's ride, however, was uneventful except for the tree on the trail incident. We were almost back to the parking lot on a narrow trail with a cliff on the right when we came upon a fairly large v-shaped tree limb that the horses would have to step over twice. It was too much for Doc and he balked and started to back up toward the cliff, which was too much for me. Joyce got off her horse and tried to move the limb, but it was too heavy, so she walked her horse over the logs and I did the same. Then, because of my stupid knee and my short legs, I had to hunt down a big rock or tree stump to use as a mounting block. We found a large stump at the mounted patrol's camp so I was able to climb up and mount from there, and we were off riding again.   A good day.