World's Best Ride

It just so happens that this past Sunday I had one of the best rides of the year so far. The weather was splendid. The bugs were minimal, and my brumby was not only very cute, she was willing. Lately we've been in the ring a lot. On Sunday however, I boycotted. The trail beckoned. How could it not? I started out with Christine and Charlie. When they turned back to the barn, I continued.

Bill joined me after Christine turned around. He was on Ruby. We started by following the perimeter of the Winter Pasture. It is full of beautiful spring hay. That's Getty in the photo, skipping and leaping through the field.

Then we walked along the perimeter of the Archie MacLeish pasture. This strange thicket of gnarly trees is a little patch of woods between the Archie MacLeish Pasture and the Blueberry Pasture.

When you come out, this is what you see: the Blueberry Pasture in all of its glory. 

We always have the camera ready!

So we crossed the Blueberry Pasture and headed into Trollwood. I have to be careful in these big open spaces! I feel more comfortable in the woods. But Lilly was great. I was feeling pretty splendiferous. And so was Getty.

In Trollwood we had to walk through the usual stretch of mud at the beginning. It's not that Lilly refuses to walk through. Both she and Ruby plunged along without a second thought. However, by the end, Lilly was missing one of her Renegade hoof boots. The foot in the foreground still has its boot on. But the other foot is naked. I can see how. The mud is wet and in places over a foot deep. I still love Renegades! But they are not the best in wet muck. I tried to find the missing boot by taking off my shoes and socks and wading through the mud. Ewwww, it felt very gross. And I didn't find the boot.

Whoops, this picture is out of order. It's Bill and Ruby way ahead of me in the Blueberry Pasture. They are always way ahead! Right ahead of them is the actual blueberry patch for which this field is named. It is a huge blueberry zone, at one time planted carefully by some blueberry lover.

That's Ruby the Beautiful sporting her Chris Cox bit.

Back at the barn I found a little clover peeking out of Lilly's mouth. A trail horse does not come any better than this one.

And back in my own garage, Getty was pooped and didn't want to leave the car. She loves the car. She always wants to sleep in there.

I have included this picture as my parting shot because it is so cute I nearly die. That's our rabbit hutch (aka The Townehouse) and that little white puff is a Leopard's darling little rabbit cottontail poking out from underneath it! Isn't that the most outrageously cute thing ever????

On that note, I leave the blogosphere for now!