While my plan was to ride Flash today, I had no real route planned out, just that I wanted to take a different route to keep him (and me) from getting bored, so I headed up 134th Way N., crossing Indiantown Road and following the canal back along the WMA area. There's a new crossover into the neighborhood at the first turn, but I decided to wait to explore that on another day. I continued following the canal until I was going along the north end of Loxahatchee Slough. I had planned to do about 12-14 miles today, and when I saw a sign saying the actual Slough was only another 2.5 miles, after I'd only done about 4 miles, I decided to at least reach there. Then when I got there, I decided to go into the trails there, just for variety. Then I decided I didn't want to come back the way I came, so I headed east, then north along the main canal until I reached Riverbend Park! By now, I had gone more than the 14 miles I had planned, and still had another 5-6 miles home. I followed the shortest trail to the underpass under Indiantown Rd., and followed the trail back to Cypress Trails, and eventually home. All told, we went over 21 miles! Longest ride on Flash so far! He took it all in stride, keeping up his pace even when I didn't ask him to, and I even had to hold him back so as not to overexert himself. One time, he evidently decided he wanted to take a roll, and started to lay down on a slope. I jumped off, and then I think he realized he couldn't roll uphill, so he just sat there for about 20 seconds, then got right back up on his feet, apparently ready to keep going. I let him walk behind me for a while to give him a breather, and he walked very patiently and calmly behind me, which was great, as he usually tries to run past me. Eventually, though, I climbed back aboard and we carried on. By the time we reached the tunnel, he was too tired to react much, fortunately, and the rest of the ride was uneventful. What a fabulous horse! No complaints, no resistance! I even had trouble getting him to stand still when I tried to rest him, he insisted on keeping going. This horse loves to move! We finally made it home after five plus hours. He was ready for a nice rinse-off, and I gave him some extra hay for all his work. Frankly, I'm surprised I'm not more sore than I am, as I'm trying to condition myself for endurance as well. What a great day!

Well, after a week of clearing out the area by the barn, we finally managed to get our monster trailer back there, a challenging process to pass through a narrow area that still had some objects a bit too close by, but we made it! We discovered the electric was on a 15 amp breaker, so we had to do some serious utility management until Jeff could put in a bigger breaker arrangement for us in his spare time (which meant it could take a while! 🙂 Today, though, I was determined to get a ride in with Flash, who hasn't been under saddle since we did the Withlacoochee Trail more than two weeks ago. I got him saddled up, and he was quite willing, probably bored already with doing nothing more than just graze in the yard! We headed out into the neighborhood until we reached the canal crossover, then headed down to the west entrance to Cypress Creek WMA on Mack Dairy Rd. We followed the main trail for the most part, then did a short detour on a trail that was marked "foot traffic only" which usually means no wheeled vehicles, and that was a nice diversion, but when I came back to the main road, it kind of looked like maybe it was meant only for hikers. Not sure, but decided to stay on the main trail anyway, which, like Withlacoochee, is essentially one long straight line, with just a couple of squiggles along the way. We went all the way down to the main parking area across from Jupiter Farms Rd., a little over four miles, a total of 8.46 miles by the time we got back. It took us about an hour to get to the parking lot, then I let him do whatever pace he wanted on the way back, and that turned out to be either a really fast gait or a canter, and we reached Mack Dairy in about 15 minutes! Then he stumbled for a moment, so he slowed down the rest of the way, though he kept wanting to pick up the pace again. This horse does love to run! It was a great first workout here, and I can't wait to get some more in. Only problem is that most of the trails are long and straight and flat, so not very interesting, but Flash is doing his best to keep my on my toes! We didn't have to dialyze today, so Hubby and I just relaxed for the rest of the day, glad to have a day off!

After a day off from dialysis, Hubby's legs were a bit stronger, so today I once again saddled up both horses, and this time, he was able to get on. We had decided to change saddles, as the Aussie saddle I've been using has kind of a high cantle, which made it hard for him to get his leg over last time, so I added a thick pad and used his old Abetta cordura saddle from Clio on him, and he had a much easier time getting his leg up over it. Up and running, and praying thet Apollo didn't explode any more and Flash would stay calm and not get too excited, we headed off to the trailhead that would wind us down to the Withlacoochee River. I had been trying to do the blue trail in reverse to get to the Fish Camp, but hadn't succeeded, but today we did it! We mostly kept Apollo in front to keep the pace slow, and Flash did a great job of staying slow and overall behaving himself the entire way. It's almost as if he knows Hubby needs special care and accommodates him accordingly. More likely he was just tired after two days of pretty hard riding, though he didn't behave as though he was the least bit tired. He never does, which is why I think this horse will be great for endurance, if I can keep up his conditioning. We were out for nearly four miles, which is a good ride for Hubby at the moment, and we were both pleased at the whole day. After getting the horses and Hubby settled in to his dialysis, I started doing some packing for our departure tomorrow. The rest of the day was just another ordinary day on the road!

Well, the day of reckoning has arrived! All of our efforts for the entire year has led us up to this day; buying Flash, working him all summer to calm him down enough for Hubby, trying to build up Hubby's stamina so he could handle riding, all of it, came to fruition today! After a light fruit breakfast, I got the horses saddled up and ready to go. Apollo was positively ecstatic about going for a ride, and was being very calm so as not to mess anything up. Flash stood quietly as well, taking his lead from Apollo, a trend I trust will continue! I had spent a little bit of time yesterday schooling Flash on standing at the mounting stairs that they have here, and though it took a few tries, Hubby managed to climb on and get settled without much trouble. I mounted Apollo and off we went! At the suggestion of our neighbor Joanne, we headed out on the blue trail, then the yellow, then took the orange connector to the red trail, for a loop that lasted just about an hour, all that Hubby wanted to do today. It went perfectly! Flash stayed behind Apollo or stayed even with him for the most part, but did get ahead for a few minutes at a faster gait, making me have to jog Apollo to catch up. Hubby was great! This little horse has such a smooth gait, he was comfortable in the saddle the whole time, and only started feeling any ache in his hips during the last 10 minutes or so, so it was perfect! We did have a little problem getting Hubby OFF, however. He's riding an Aussie saddle that his kind of a high cantle, and his legs are his weakest link right now, so he had trouble getting his leg over. Thankfully, several people rushed over to help him, and he fell into the arms of a very nice young man who had the strength to help him gently to the ground. Obviously, that's something we need to work on! What a special day! We took the rest of the day off, as it started to cloud over, and by evening, the rain had started to come in. Apparently it's going to sock us in for a couple of days, which is fine, it equals enforced R & R for me, which I need, as I adjust to the slower pace of road life. SO HAPPY!

This very busy campground had lots of people tacking up and riding out early, as the weather is scheduled to turn bad tomorrow afternoon, but today is absolutely gorgeous! It didn't take me long to get Flash saddled up either, having fruit for breakfast before hitting the trail. Flash did brilliantly! Despite being in a totally new environment, he behaved himself very well, even staying on a relaxed rein for quite a ways at the beginning. Once we were warmed up, though, we started ticking it up a bit, and then he started to get excited again, as seems to be his style. We did a gentle gait, and a faster gait for quite a while, until we finally did a lovely nice long canter, which is so smooth, it's just wonderful! We spent about two hours on the trail, which ended up being over 9 miles on this speed demon! Got back to camp in plenty of time, chatted for a while with our neighbors Joanne and Mike, who live only 20 minutes away and so come here regularly (and who bought a copy my book :-), before going in and making a nice brunch for Hubby before we started his dialysis session. A fabulous way to start our latest road trip!

I was thrilled this morning when Hubby said he thought he was strong enough for a ride, so I saddled up BOTH horses, helped him mount his new horse Flash, and off we went! I was so pleased that the horses behaved so well. At first, Flash was hesitant to pass Apollo, he stayed at his flank for the first half mile or so. Eventually, we split to opposite sides of the road, and that seemed to give Flash some freedom, and he started walking a bit faster. Apollo and I had to jog to catch up, but it was GREAT to see Hubby back on a horse at last! He hasn't been able to ride since April of last year, as he's been dealing with a whole variety of health issues, but we're finally settling down to a routine and he's been improving greatly over the last few months. So glad he was strong enough for a ride today!! It was a short ride, just under 3 miles round trip, but it was enough for him and Flash to start to get to know each other. I've been a bit worried, because Flash can be a handful, but he's settled down nicely. He did get a little excited after we trotted a little, and then he wouldn't stand very well, but Hubby didn't have any problem with him. Such a difference from his old mare Clio, who was so slow, steady and bombproof! But he really enjoyed himself, and was so glad to be back in the saddle again, albeit for only an hour. His hips started to ache (likely from lack of use!), but that should take care of itself as we start to ride more regularly, hopefully. We also had a great day of dialysis in the afternoon, FINALLY finding a great place to start our buttonhole for the arterial port, after several weeks of false starts, half halts and plain old problems. But I finally found it perfectly today, and can't wait to create this buttonhole! That should make the whole process easier, finally, and should become routine before long. After 10 months of trying to nail down his dialysis access, I think the light at the end of the tunnel is getting much brighter, at last!! As soon as we finish making buttonholes, and get his catheter out, we're heading back on the road in our great big new (to us) Trailrider trailer! Can't wait!!!