Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Eagle Ranch Spring Fling- The Ride, loop 1

The ride was divided into 3 loops with the vet checks after white and the second orange loop.
White (~15), Orange (~8) x2, Blue (~15).

The first loop was really good. Boomer and I started out in the back and stayed there for the whole loop. It wasn't an out and back, so no passing traffic. Boomer was bouncy for about 15 minutes, then relaxed and got into things. About 30 minutes in I let him canter for a little while and he really settled down after that. For the rest of the loop, we just went along and enjoyed the scenery! It was a very challenging trail with lots of mud, rocks, and steep inclines. It was a challenging and fun trail. It was really well marked, so that was awesome! The loop had 'tokens' out randomly that you had to pick up as you went along and you traded those in for your vet card at each check. The tokens were in buckets which were attached to tree trunks. Boomer let me ride up, pick out a token, unzip my saddle bag, get out a baggie, and put the token away- all from his back. I know, I was as shocked as you are! I was SO proud of him for being a real horse and not a total fool for once!!! He was very professional and businesslike about the whole ride, really. We finished the first ~15 miles in just over 2 hours. We pulsed right in and vetted in right away. I didn't untack, which didn't help on our trot out as Boomer bounces around a bunch if his girth isn't tight enough. Our scores were pretty average, can't remember then offhand, but we had quite a few B's. I truly feel that I didn't present Boomer at his best because I vetted him in right away instead of taking care of him first. Lesson learned.


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