As is my wont, I planned to ride as many of the trails here as possible, so today's ride was designed to map out nearly all of the remaining trails, which estimated to be just under 13 miles. We set the alarm in order to get out early, as the temps were forecast for the low 90's. Managed to get on the trail by 9:30, but this time we left little Billy home, which he didn't like, but he had trouble keeping up with us on the last ride, mostly because of the heat, and we knew that this would be too much for him today. We headed south to the first intersection, then made our way north and eventually to the east side of the park, which opened up into a lot of fallow fields, many with some gorgeous wildflowers, not to mention the occasional cactus in bloom. When we got close to the road, I stopped to put a leash on Lola, didn't want to be too far out of compliance here, anyway. 🙂 The trails that went around the edges of fields gave us a good opportunity to trot and canter, but got a little boring after a while, and then hot as there was no shade and the temps rose. At one point, near the farthest point from the camp, of course, Hubby's mare Clio shied at some approaching hikers, which she seldom does but we hadn't seen anyone else on the trails here at all, so I guess it startled her, and she went sideways unexpectedly. Hubby couldn't hang on (his hands just aren't as strong as they used to be), he lost his balance and took a slow motion fall, landing a bit on his shoulder. Clio didn't go anywhere, she just stood there wondering what happened. The hikers were very apologetic, though it wasn't anything they did, but we appreciated their concern. After a few minutes of rest and recovery, Hubby got back up in the saddle with the help of a nearby fallen log, and we were on our way. We took a couple of rests on the way back, especially at the bridge where Lola and I tossed a stick in the water, which had quite a good current going, and she got some swimming in. Hubby was too sore to do anything but walk all the way back, so it was nearly 3:30 by the time we got to camp. Fortunately, the west side of the park is mostly wooded, so the shade helped, but it was still hot. Can't wait to get back north in 70 degrees!! Anyway, Hubby helped a little, but his shoulder hurt him too much, so I sent him in and finished up with the chores. We put ice packs on his shoulder during the evening, and that helped some, so hopefully he'll recover without too much fuss. In any event, it was a very nice ride, 13 miles in all, and I managed to get a great GPS map out of it, which I've passed along to Trailmeister (along with the one from earlier in the week), and have both available if anyone wants them!

What a very nice ride at Lake Louisa today! We got up a little early to try to beat the heat, but still didn't manage to get out until 11:00 (we got so lazy hanging around in one place all winter! 🙂 Over the weekend I had taken the trail map and marked off two routes that would allow us to cover as many of the park trails as possible, and downloaded Day One into the GPS to make sure, which ran just under 9 miles, saving the longer 12+ mile one for later in the week. We headed south through the youth camp, down to Dude's Loop, then north for a bit to the link to the east side of the park, which let us cross over a creek where the dogs had a great time splashing around, even little Billy took a voluntary swim across the creek to cool off, even though there's a bridge! Went north over the Sandhill Loop, then came back over the bridge where we rested a few minutes at the picnic table and hitching rail there, then did a sort of figure 8 along a bunch more trails that ended up taking us to the loop around the north side of Bear Lake and south back into the campground, all told, just over 3 hours. The weather was pretty hot (in the mid-upper 80's) but not too humid, cloudy enough to keep it from getting too bad, there was a tiny breeze occasionally that helped, and at one point, a few drops came out of a cloud, just enough to subdue the increasing heat. Hubby had a lot of great canters, as his mare Clio was walking slower than usual, and he had to keep up. She's starting to get a bit of arthritis in one of her knees, so we'll have to keep an eye on that, though he's been spraying it with Absorbine everyday. But a gorgeous day all around! The trails were marked brilliantly, and the map corresponded perfectly (a rare combination!), and we never felt lost, making the day even more enjoyable! Looking forward to our next ride here, probably Wednesday. A great start to our re-kindled journey!

For some time now, we've known about the nearby Loxahatchee Slough, but have only ever reached it's trailhead after a long ride from brother Jeff's house, so we had never actually been on those trails. At Dupuis a few months ago, I met a woman named Valerie who was kind enough to invite me to ride with her today, so we packed up the horses early and headed over to another one of her friend's house named Nancy. From there we quickly saddled up and headed west along the canal at a nice easy walk so the horses could get used to each other and the surroundings, and of course they had issues with a pig in someone's back yard, but it wasn't long before we all settled down. Just as we reached the trailhead we were joined by another rider, Bob, who decided to tag along with us. We took a very nice loop of about 4 miles, part of which went along one of the big canals, and there was one stretch that had standing water we had to wade through for a bit. Otherwise it was a lovely day, a very nice trail and a very nice ride, and we all took turns chatting amongst ourselves. We mostly walked and jogged, though Hubby got in a couple of canters catching up several times, as our pace was a bit quicker than normal for us (their horses are younger :-). We passed one property that had a rather emaciated looking horse in the yard, I took note and looked it up later, passing the address and owner along to Val in case she wanted to report it. With us leaving in a few days, it doesn't make sense for us to get involved, hopefully the ladies here will follow up on it. In any event, it was a lovely ride, about 7.3 miles all told, just over two hours, just right for the busy day we all still had left in front of us. Hubby and I expressed our thanks and goodbyes, made short stop at Publix for a few things before heading back to the "ranch," did some chores before settling down for the evening.

After a week of regular life, then a few days down in Key West with our client/friends who were renting a condo for the month (where we did some work and some play, including a snorkeling trip out to the reef), we arrived home Thursday, rested Friday, and finally had a beautiful day to go riding! It's been either too hot or too wet for weeks, or work has gotten in the way, so we were relieved to finally have a perfect weather day, so we packed up the horses and drove out to Dupuis WMA, where a group was having a poker run. We didn't participate in the run, but the campground was busy, busy, busy!! We did take a quiet trail away from the madding crowd for a fairly short 2-hour ride. Apollo was his usually antsy self for the first half hour, responding to every waving palm frond and unseen noise on the trail, but he finally settled down for a very nice ride. He always gets like that when he's been laid off for a few weeks. Hubby's horse Clio was perfect, of course, but she is starting to get arthritis in her knees, so we've added some additional joint supplements to her diet, and we'll be doing liniment more often to help her out. A gorgeous day, just a little wind and not hot at all for a change. Saw a beautiful cactus in full bloom with perfect yellow flowers, a wild turkey, and a bit of pig sign, but no pigs. Chatted with some friends, new and old, and learned of a few more places to ride locally, but chances are we won't have more than maybe one more chance to ride this season, as we'll be busy all next week getting ready to depart in 10-11 days. Can't wait to get back on the road again! Though we're glad we didn't leave earlier, as they're having snow across the midwest this week! Brrrr!