In which we return to regularly-scheduled ears at the bottom

The weather has been frightful, but we finally got a break!

Mud and hay on face, such a good look

We've all been a little borderline cabin-feverish, so when there was finally a dry day in the forecast, the call went out on Facebook:

"Meet at Victoria Parking Lot on Friday at 1(ish)"
and be ready to ride...slowly

We are all fat and fluffy right now, so a walking-ride was needed.

Niki riding Jazz (sooooo fuzzy!) and
Patty P. on Freebie (who is coming 20 years old in spring, but acts like a 5 year old!)

Not fast, not far, and not very warm:

This is a screen shot.  Link to the actual data is HERE

That was Friday.  This was today:

I wore All The Warm Clothes: 
wool shirt, polarfleece shirt, down vest, polarfleece tights, fleece scarf, wool socks....

3 weeks on the new feed regimen.  

Today was a solo ride, just me and Fiddle...and the SUN!

If an endurance horse sees her shadow, it means spring will come soon, right? Right?

A brisker pace today, literally:  Fee decided that the sunshine felt so good that she actually paced a few strides up a hill before swapping over to a gallop.

It was bright and sunny, but cold!  The truck (parked in the shady parking lot) said 40* F
but the wind from the north felt much colder.

(It was a short hill.  We are still fuzzy and fat, after all.)

Sunshine makes everyone feel better.

We met some other folks on the trail today: bicycles, dogs, and other horses.  Everyone agreed that the sunshine was glorious.

The trails are closed here for the winter, but the roads are still open. 

We slowed down when we were under open sky to let the sun fall on us a little longer

Today's ride: not quite twice as far in the same time.  Data is HERE.
Still not a smokin' hot speed, but it felt good to move a bit.

Back in the parking lot:

Kitty said, "hey, that's a nifty camera!"  She and I want to ride together again,
although Fiddle is still embarrassingly too much in love with Mak.

I've got one more day off this week, hoping the weather will continue to hold (there is sn*w in the forecast, but I'm not sure I believe it).

Cross fingers!

UPDATE:  Sunshine and no sn*w!  

We went specifically to this pond to see if the Swamp Tulips are up yet.  Nope.

Still getting the hang of this camera, and playing with light (while we have some)

Going FAST(ish).  It's been a good long time since we could do that.

A little more than 8 miles, a little less than 2 hours.  Perfect.