With all the crazy weather (four ice storms in three weeks), and the acquisition of a new client who happened to be located in Austin, the only riding the horses have been doing lately has been a couple of short trips around the neighbor's pasture with friends of my brothers (non-riders) who came over for get-togethers. It might have been a little exercise for the horses, but it wasn't exactly challenging. At last we had a day where the weather was fine (party cloudy, temps near 80), so we headed out to Pedernales just to finish off the south loop that we had attempted last month and couldn't do because of timing problems. We got a late start because I wanted to trim the horses' feet before we put them in the trailer. There had been some fog and dew overnight, so their feet were nice and soft, so trimming was pretty easy, but time consuming nonetheless. We didn't get to the park until after 1:00, then we had to readjust Hubby's stirrups, as they had been changed to accommodate guest riders, and eventually left the parking area about 1:40. We headed due west to the perimeter fence, so that we could get the most boring part of the ride done first. A very long, mostly straight fence line, though the footing was mostly dirt and sand with just a few areas of rough rocks. The southern part of the fence started out with typical barbed wire, but then changed to a very tall, probably 10' fence with one strand of electrification at the top, which made us pretty curious as to what kind of critters the fence was meant to keep in or out. Eventually we reached the bottom of the park, turning east, crossing the road and following the utility poles before starting the turn northward. We stopped at the "horse camp", which was essentially a small field with a big cistern off to one side, and 5 or 6 metal corrals, all but one in use, though no one was about. We watered the horses at the trough, but it had a lot of algae floating on it, and I had to do some searching to find how to get water into it. Turns out there's a spigot underground that when turned on, allows water to fountain into the trough. There was a regular hose-type spigot, but that didn't work for some reason. In any event, we had been riding two hours just to get there, so we rested the horses, had some lunch and munchies before heading out again. Going north on the east side of the south loop was definitely more interesting, with lots of twists and turns and ups and down, but the footing was mostly rough rock along the way. Most of the trail was in the woods, so it made for a slightly cooler ride, and the sun we started with was being clouded over, so the temps stayed perfect. It was a very nice ride, but seemed longer because of the rough terrain and because we're a bit out of practice, having not ridden for over three weeks! Got back just before 6:00, we washed the horses at the wash rack before loading them up, leaving the park as the sun was setting, around 6:30. One quick stop at the H.E.B. for groceries and gas before getting back to the ranch, where we quickly fed and bedded down the horses. A few days ago, we had bought some more posts and extended their pasture to more than an acre, so now they have lots of room to run. No telling how long we're going to be here, now that we have a local client, though we're still hoping to avoid the summer heat by heading north in a few weeks, and to complete our final contiguous state (Nevada) some time in the next few months!

After a not-so-great night sleep, Hubby and I were raring to go riding again this morning. After a quick blueberry pancake breakfast, the horses leaped into the trailer and off we went. Miraculously, we only hit two red lights on the entire 50-minute trip, which has to be a new record! Arrived at the 71 trailhead, which already have half a dozen vehicles in the parking area, with at least 3 or 4 other horse trailers, with riders saddling up, round-penning, then heading out. We quickly got the horses ready and followed suit. Our goal was to try to finish off as many of the trails that we had missed on our previous ride as possible. I had programmed a route in my GPS that would pretty much do the trick, so we got started, out White Tail, right on Bobcat Ridge, right on Riverside for a short jaunt to Bluestem, north to Coyote Road, then a couple of loops round Deep Sandy and Pecan Bottom (which took us past a huge 200 year old pecan tree, as well as past the Hyatt Lost Pines golf course), then a fairly steep climb us Buckeye. We were actually cantering up the hill (horses' choice) when we ran into our first riders of the day, naturally, on a narrow stretch of trail with a steep drop on one side. We didn't seem them coming, so we almost ran into them on a corner, but after one of the guy's mule kicked back at Apollo (he missed), they found a spot to pull over and we passed them by. Finally reached the top of the long hill, and rested for a few minutes admiring a pretty nice view by a picnic table that was on a short spur off the main trail. Buckeye ran into Road Runner, which we then took south back to the section of Coyote Road which we had been on yet, and that took us back to the other end of Bobcat Ridge and back onto White Tail to the trailhead. What a great ride! About 8.25 miles in all, took us a little over three hours including several stops along the way. There was a beautiful overlook along Bluestem where we tied up the horses on the fence and walked up, to see a great view of the Lower Colorado River. Just after we moved on from there, we discovered a picnic table and hitching post just north, which would've been a good place to stop had we gone just a bit further. The loops near the Hyatt Lost Pines were gorgeous, with most of the trails being dirt, and looking like they had a lot of traffic, so I suspect there is an equestrian concessionaire at or near the Hyatt. Lots of grass in that area as well, which looked gorgeous. This day had so much variety, from down by the river to up in the hills, dirt trails to rocky roads, quiet places to others loud with traffic. Highly recommended, though as I mentioned before, $12 per person/horse, so $24 for the day, a lot when you're not even camping, but that's the way Texas does things. Lower taxes overall, but higher user fees for those that partake, which seems fair enough. While I appreciate free horse camping in New York State, I wouldn't want to be a taxpayer there! In any event, it was a great day! Stopped at Walmart on the way back, arrived home just at the far end of dusk, got the horses fed and put away before total darkness, and we settled down for the night, exhausted but delighted with the day!

Got up early because we decided we could fit in a bunch of errands as well as a ride today before heading out to my niece's last basketball game of the season. By making a big circle around to Marble Falls, I found a park on Turkey Bend, one of the many recreation areas created when they dammed up the Colorado River to make Lake Travis, under the control of the Lower Colorado River Authority. After stops at Carquest, Radio Shack and Walmart, we headed out to Turkey Bend, put our check in the honor box and headed down to the lake. It didn't take long to saddle the horses and put their boots on, though this will probably be the last time I can fit them on without trimming them again, and we headed out. Hubby and I got into a disagreement about which direction to take, as there was no trail map and not marked trails, and even though I had a plan for covering the whole park, I held my tongue and let him take the lead. As a result we got lost and ended up only covering about a quarter of the park, most of it on one utility road that we ended up having to come back on as well (not a fan of linear trails), though we did manage to get down to the lake so the horses could get a drink before we rushed them into the trailer. Most of the trails were hard packed dirt and sand, with some sections of road quite rocky and gravel-ly. Pretty much the same kind of terrain as Pace Bend, a big hilly above the water line. The lake is incredibly low, and most of the boathouses across the water were way above the current water line, some sort of toppling sideways. Lots of stairs that ended way above the water line as well. They sure could use some rain! Anyway, other than the tension of getting lost, it was a nice ride We were running much later than I had hoped, but managed to arrive at the game with about 5 minutes to spare. Our team won, yeah! With one more quick stop on the way home, we got back before 8:00, got everyone tucked in, and had a quiet evening.

After having tested several different types of hay on the horses, we decided on some decent $8 bales out in Cedar Creek, partly because we can combine the trip with a ride at nearby McKinney Roughs. After fitting a new trailer hitch so the pickup could haul the horse trailer (it required a significant drop, which Hubby had acquired yesterday from Tractor Supply), we loaded up the horses and headed to Kathy and Roy's, where we picked up a full 24 bale load. We then headed out to McKinney Roughs, going to their office first and picking up a map, then learning where the 71 trailhead was (two lefts east on 71 from the office), paid the required $24 ($12 pp for equestrians), then headed out on the trail by about 1:00. At first the trail was a bit ordinary, with quite a bit of gravel on it. Eventually that turned a bit more to dirt and sand, but it followed along the road for quite a while, making it quite noisy, as 71 is a busy 4-lane divided highway. We gradually turned east, paralleling a quieter road, which was much nicer, and then we finally turned down to the Colorado River, where it was much quieter and much lovelier. We took Riverside trail, which did just that, and then climbed back up to the top of the ridge. It was a GREAT ride, one of the best since we've been here, actually, though a bit more expensive than usual, but we figured it balances out for not paying anything at Pace Bend : -). Really nice. We did even more trotting and cantering than usual, and the temps got up to the upper 70's, so the horses were sweating more than they usually do, with Apollo actually working up to a lather on his shoulders. He behaved brilliantly today, no outbursts or rodeo-ing, but just a steady pace all the way. Fabulous! We only did about half the trails even though it was a three hour, 7+ mile ride, so we'll definitely be back to do the rest! Great day! Stopped at Trudy's Tex-Mex on the way back for happy hour and a snack, topping off a fantastic day!

Got out a bit earlier today, and headed out to Pace Bend Park, slightly farther but still only 45 minutes away. The weather was perfect, even better than yesterday, with temps in the mid-60's and only about 10 mph winds, through the forecast was calling for higher. From the south, though, so at least it was somewhat temperate. Arrived to an empty entry booth, and we couldn't find an iron ranger to leave money, so we drove in and started exploring. We quickly learned that signage was at a minimum, and going by the map I downloaded from the internet didn't help much. We passed the south trailhead parking, eventually find the much more obvious east trailhead parking area. It didn't take long to saddle up and head out, though the trail signage was also a bit sparse. That trailhead also had bike/hiking trails, which quickly became obviously because the limbs of the scrub pines were too low for horses. Eventually we settled on a trail heading south, following somewhat the road we came in, though eventually it curved back more to the center of the park. We passed a conveniently located watering trough which the horses took advantage of, and we continued around the park on a mostly dirt and some rock trail that actually had a few more grades than we've seen in a while. Nothing dramatic, but it made the ride the most interesting one we've taken lately. Some of the trail went along the utility line, and there were several opportunities for cantering and trotting, which both we and the horses enjoyed. They were on their best behavior, even Apollo was perfect today, obviously glad to be out of the corral and on the trail, and making sure I knew it!. We definitely needed boots on the horses because of a few rocky spots, but there was a lot less than we expected. Occasionally we were afforded a nice view of Lake Travis, on which the water level is down many, many feet due to several years of severe drought (though up a bit from some rain this year), and some of the houses above the lake were quite palatial. We took a brief stop at the north end of the trail for a snack, then were back at the trailer in no time after that. All in all, the ride was almost 5 ½ miles long, a little over 2 hours with the stop. A very nice day, particularly after the very negative experience at Pedernales yesterday! Seems the less contact with humans we have, the less frustration, and the more enjoyable the ride!

Finally getting some really nice weather, just what we've been looking for, and even though the day started out cloudy with a 40% change of rain, we decided we'd take the chance anyway, and boy, am I glad we did! By the time we reached Pedernales it was about 11:30, and we were tacked up and ready to go fairly quickly, heading out to do the North Loop. While starting out as a nice single track combo of dirt and rock, it soon became a two track of mostly dirt, with just a few stoney patches. Before long, we were on the perimeter fence, which had scrub trees on one side and a barbed wire fence on the other. The horses smelled pig and were panicky for a few minutes, but we got them settled down, long enough to do one or two canters along the fence, though I was worried they might suddenly shy right and run us into the fence, but things went well, fortunately. Halfway down the park, we cut across on what my GPS plan said was a trail, but there were no signs there, the first intersection that was poorly marked. Fortunately, there were some blue and white plastic flags tied intermittently along the trail, so we followed those and that stayed right on track with my GPS. Right after getting away the perimeter trail, it became very rocky, but not really loose stone, so it didn't bother the horses very much. (They had their Cavallo boots on, anyway, so they were fine.) The last section of trail was the nicest, weaving through trees and providing nice views in the distance. We did about 5.24 miles in about 2 hours, which was just what Hubby wanted to do. There was a wash rack at the parking area, so we rinsed the horses down before loading them up, and headed back to town. My niece had a basketball game at her high school at 5:00, so we grabbed a quick cup of coffee at the Whataburger before heading over to the game. Very frustrating, as the refs were poor and the scorekeeping kept screwing up, and one time she completely missed a basket, and in the end we lost by ONE POINT! Had we been credited the score we were supposed to, we would have won. Hard to watch! Headed home for a quiet evening, after a very enjoyable day!