We braved the elements on Saturday and went out - it was worth it, as we never got rained on, and it was lovely and cloudy and overcast and 65* out. Kelly finally got to go out again, and she was a happy girl! It was what we call "Kelly weather" - she prefers anything under 80*. Didn't go far, maybe 6 miles or so, since she's not in that great of shape. But it was fun for Mimi, too, as it meant she didn't have to babysit her uber-annoying brother.
Unfortunately, I didn't bring the camera, as I didn't trust the still-overhead clouds not to start dumping rain on us. It would have been a pretty day for pics, but I also had my hands too full of fired up pony to risk the camera. She was quite cheerful about being out...she literally trotted out of the barn over to the trailer.
Yesterday the weather was perfect...unfortunately, Beamer wasn't. He's been stuck in his stall since Wednesday (irrigation + rain) and he was really pissed about it and throwing a temper tantrum. Which meant that he was acting like he had never seen a trail before. *sigh* Dad ended up walking the first mile. Sometimes, I think that horse gets worse as time goes along, instead of getting better. Some things he's better about, such as not having a meltdown in the parking lot when he and Mimi are the only horses there, but it's taken us three years to get to that point...if he takes that long to get his head together, trail-wise, he'll be retired before that happens! I don't understand...he's great in competition, or whenever we go to a new trail. But take him to the San Tans, and he just melts down. And we condition a lot more than we compete, so if he doesn't enjoy the training/conditioning part, maybe he's not cut out for this sport.
Mimi got her heebie-jeebies out on Saturday, though, and she was an angel. I got a ton of pics - the ironwoods are blooming right now - and I greatly enjoyed riding her yesterday. She was soft, forward, enthusiastic...in short, all the things her brother wasn't. :( Dealing with him was the only downer to the ride, which makes it a pretty big thing, since it meant that Dad wasn't really enjoying himself, either.
Because of Beamer's brainlessness, I really couldn't handle dealing with him, even from a distance (since I don't actually ride that horse), so we elected to stay home today. Mom's monthly kits are going out Tuesday, so we stayed home and packed kits. Opened all the doors and enjoyed the 75* weather. It's almost obscene how much I'm enjoying this reprieve from 110*.
Pics from yesterday:
Looking uber-cheerful and ready to go
Ironwoods in full bloom
Nice, sorta packed-down sandwash, best after a rain!
The kind of trail you don't want to look down...The rest of the pictures can be found in my photobucket album here.
