So... I had a feeling Dan needed to burn out a few miles.... The horse park was closed and Ashland was closing early for Ann's celebration of life, so we opted for Harbins. We were in the mood for a change of scenery anyways. I thought about joining friends for a ride... or inviting friends, but.... I figured that Dan would be happier being able to just go at his pace. So we set off. Turns out it was pretty quiet considering it was beautiful cooler temps and a weekend. I guess the cloudyness turned a few people off??? 
So we had a blast!! We started out on the 6 mile loop and Dan was funny. We kept trying to find places to trot and canter and we'd get rolling and have to come to a walk because the footing was rocky or had washed out or it got too bendy/twisty/turny. You could just feel his frustrations. He'd get a nice canter... then he'd start to lengthen and... hold up... back to trot. Poor guy. We tried our best... I just don't know those paths well enough yet. So then we got back to the start and we were kind of like... "we could do another 4 miles", so we did. And turns out... doing the 4 mile loop is WAY better if you do it the other way. We were going downhill most of the way. The only downside is that the best galloping stretch is at the very beginning if you do it that way. Which.. maybe is better than doing it right before you finish?? So.. we ended up with lots of downhill work and not as much uphill, but oh well. We got in as much trotting and cantering as we could and we had fun. :) 
And when we finished, Liz and Matt were there getting ready to ride so it was fun to say hi to them. :) And I think that was exactly what Dan needed. He wasn't fresh.. he was just obviously wanting to go. :) 
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