In which training continues, and there's just a bunch of trotting on trails

I've been riding a lot lately, but nothing exciting has been happening.  That's a good thing.  "May you live in exciting times" is not a blessing. 

"May you ride an exciting horse" isn't either. 

Fiddle is mostly "not-exciting."  She's learned so much about being a trail horse.  She's surefooted.  She's sensible.  She doesn't spook at much, and she can travel down the trail at a ground-covering trot for hours at a time. 

We did 18 miles the other day in 2.5 hours--that's pretty brisk! 

On any other horse, a pace like that would feel like racing, but we were singing "Little Bunny Foo-Foo" and other silly songs, not whipping our noble steeds into a frothy speed.   

I glanced down at the GPS: 14 miles per hour.  Who would've guess that the speed creates a good cadence for silly songs? 

 Fiddle mostly gets the "caboose" position when we're out with friends, because her rear cannons tend to fire at the other horses.  That's my next task, now that she knows how to travel with a group:  teaching her to control her hostility.

Wish me luck.  (It's a good thing she and I are both still quite young, right?)

 Today Fee and I went out "solo"  (it doesn't seem quite right to call it that, since she's there with me, and I'm there with her, but I'm not sure what the correct word is).

 It was raining in the Swamp (of course), and the trails at Bracken were a mess.  Too dang much mud, and the we won't be getting dry weather any time soon.  Sigh.

 It's pretty in the Swamp.  But, wet.  The salmonberries are blooming:

 Pink blossoms are especially pretty in our otherwise green-on-green-on-green landscape.

 We do have "Swamp Tulips" too, of course.

And also:

 cervidae! 

We surprised at least 6 deer when we were almost back at the trailer.  I think the group was bedded down in the clearcut, napping and ruminating.  When we came along, they all stood up and blinked at us.  Fee wasn't worried about them, they weren't worried about us. 


Here's something totally random:  I finally took a picture of my "new" saddle (it's the same saddle, but a new saddle seat):

It's PURPLE.   (and it's got more padding than the black seat had, too!)  

Life is good.  Even in the rain.  After all, without the rain it wouldn't be a Swamp!