Look! Up in the sky!
What's that huge glowing yellow object surrounded by blueness? We headed up into the hills to find out.
Obstacle in the trail...
although it's labelled "FEENAUGHTY" , the big yellow construction equipment was not a problem. Under the yellow thing we go, and up the hill.
Sadly, Nikki's horse was taking a bunch of lame steps, so she and her mom headed back to the trailer.
The rest of us headed upwards towards the Hill of Death, aka Mt. Washington. Although the sn*w has melted at home (finally), we gained some significant altitude and ended up on trails covered in the white stuff.
Traction was fine, so we went up. I've been worrying that Fee won't be fit for a fifty (her first!) at the first ride of the season, so this training run was important to me--if she can trot the entire Hill of Death (more than a mile long, 8% grade incline or steeper for most of it) and still have "plenty of horse left", then I'm satisfied that she's sufficiently fit.
Well. She did it. In deep snow! She really is fit, despite all the time off we had for bad weather. Whew.
Uh, a lot of up and up and...
...up...
and up....
and up! Sure enough: sunshine and blue sky at the top of the hill!
Fee seemed especially snarky today.
I kept her at the back of the pack most of the day, so she wouldn't feel crowded and inclined to kick. The rear-most horse in the group always points ears backwards in case there are bears or giraffes or some other horrible thing sneaking up
but Fee's ears were more back than strictly necessary.
Poor Fee! When we got back to the trailer, I could see that she was coming into heat again. I know I need to spay this mare, just so she can be comfortable instead of cycling all the time, but the money just isn't there right now. Fortunately, the vet gave me a hundred doses of Regumate so we can get through ride season--but I won't start her on the meds until the week prior to the first ride. (and yes, we are counting the days).
(20 days).
(Just in case you are counting).
