Sunday's Ride

I've already posted the pictures of Sunday's ride, but thought I'd write just a little bit about it.

Estes has been on injured reserve since the HCR ride.  She developed some deep tissue thrush (that's what I'm assuming it is - I'm not a vet and can't diagnose) and hasn't been rideable.  Well, actually, she probably has been rideable, but we took some time to treat her.

She seemed to be feeling better and was definitely getting sick of being left behind so I decided to give her some Bute to take the edge off so that I could take her out to stretch out a little bit.  I'd just Buted her when Compass called to see if I would join her on a two-hour ride.  Heck, why not?  I threw Bill's bareback pad on to keep my jeans clean-ish and bridled up.

Estes was eager to go and quite the handful while I was waiting for Compass' guests to get mounted up.  Estes was beside herself that we had to travel at "dude speed" when she wanted to go. Even though Compass had invited us for a two-hour, I had to get back into town, so I went out with her and planned to break away from the group when it was time for me to head back.

I finally got Estes settled into dude speed and chatted with the guests who were not having nearly as good a time as we were.  Unfortunately, the female of the couple wasn't into the ride and was not having a good time.  Her husband, on the other hand, was having a ball and feeling guilty about it, it seemed.

Before I knew it, I was at my turn back point and broke away from the group.  I felt Estes sigh in relief as she picked up a quick trot along a sandy stretch of trail.  I was as anxious as she was to move and let her stretch out a bit.  I considered moving her up into a canter, but wasn't feeling very balanced myself and decided to stay at a trot.

It felt wonderful!  Her gimpiness felt like it was gone, but I'll chalk that up to the Bute making her more comfortable.  We sought out a few aspen groves on our way back, breaking trail in the process, and picked our way between the beautiful trees.

I rode a bit harder than I had intended and was sore for two days to prove it.  Estes, however, would have been much happier if we'd stayed out another couple of hours.

As excited as I am to be going to the WPA, I'm sad that it will be another week before I can get up go for another ride.