Glorious Day!! And glorious baby horse!

So okay.. he's not really a baby horse anymore. But seriously.. he was SOOOOOO good today!

It was supposed to be a Mike Day. We slept in a little and I got the ponies fed and we decided to go to the lake. Mike had said I could ride if I wanted in the morning but I woke up groggy from my migraine pill and it was cool when I woke up but getting hot by the time I was functioning. So we decided on the lake. Except... as we were leaving the house... there was a glorious breeze that had picked up and the horses were being frisky. Sigh.... And the skies were beautiful. I said something to Mike and he told me to go ride. I felt kind of bad but I'm so glad I did it! It was just such a beautiful perfect day for riding! 

I changed clothes and grabbed Dan and decided I wanted a change of scenery. We headed to the horse park. I was debating where to ride as I knew there was a h/j show. I wasn't sure how crowded the steeplechase was going to be. So at the red light I checked the website and apparently the steeplechase fields and trails were closed because of a high school XC meet. Oops. Well drats. So I pulled into Ashland. But... then I thought... well they didn't say all of the trails were closed.. just the steeplechase. So I figured I'd head to the Olympic Rings and see. Sure enough.. they were open. BUT... there was two guys with a giant parasail/hang glider thing in the front field right by the parking lot. They would fluff it up and then bring it back down. I watched for a minute and was about to turn around and leave but then the one guy starting walking towards me. I thought.. maybe they're done?! Nope.. but he was super nice and offered to let me get on my horse and get past them before they messed with it. I said "yes please!" because I really didn't want to go ride at Ashland. (Don't get me wrong, Ashland is amazing..but I wanted a change of pace). So... I was super grateful and told them how awesome they were and that I would be quick. I was a little afraid that Dan would freak out at the trailer and take off, especially as frisky as he was that morning. But he was super!! He watched it and was on high alert but didn't seem panicked or scared. Just... curious. I tacked up quick. And they were fluffing it a little it the whole time, but not bad. So then they stopped while we headed out to the fields and we were on our way. 

 
We had a great ride. We did a little bit of cantering, some fast cantering, some trotting, etc. Of course Dan was a goober about going through the covered bridge again. He was more afraid of that than the parasail! Seriously dan?!?! But we got through it fairly quickly and had a great ride. It was intense though. The footing in the woods is rough because of all the wash out and root systems. I felt bad as a few times he really had to be quick on his feet. We came back to the parking area and I was planning to go on the back side and go through the other bridges and such but he saw the parasail in the distance and freaked out a little. Goober... we just saw it!!!! But I humored him so we circled around and did another loop or two in the hilly area and then came back to the parasail from where we left it. He was still on high alert but not spinning and bolting. Then the guys saw me and stopped moving it too. Of course the one guy laid down on the ground next to it and then Danny was convinced that it did in fact, kill the guy and was dangerous. Ha ha. But we were able to walk past it. Well then Dan say a guy loading his bike into the back of his truck and he was more concerned about that than the parasail.... Good grief. Hee hee. But seriously... overall, he was SUPER!! 

We had a great ride and got some good fitness work in. No real gallops in the sense that he didn't hit the other gear, but we had some fun runs. I rinsed him real quick with a sponge and then once we got home he got a proper hosing, a magnesium back bath, and I iced his front legs. He was cracking me up because although I offered him water and he refused... repeatedly... while icing him, he kept sticking his nose in the ice boots like he wanted to drink the water. Hee hee.. Such a goober. 

 So..yeah, I dropped my phone TWICE... so TWICE I had to get off and get back on. Hence he selfies :)