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!

At long last we had a day warm enough to go riding!! After sending my brother from Florida off to the airport, and spending about an hour at my other brother's welding shop, where one of his guys fixed a couple of pieces of the horse trailer that had weakened and broken. Pulled out by 11:45, arrived at Reimers Ranch Park about 30 minutes later, paying the $12 entrance fee. We were delayed starting the ride because we knew the terrain would have a significant amount of rock and stone, so I had to spend some time trimming both horses front hooves so we could put on their Cavallo simple boots (in our mind, probably the best we've used so far.) Finally we were able to saddle up and get on the trail. As it turned out, while there were quite a few stretches of heavy rock, a good portion of the trail (well, road, actually) was packed dirt. Being a multi-use trail, it was double track, and we passed quite a few cyclists and joggers along the way. The terrain was typical Texas Hill country, occasional copses of short trees dotted around a brown grass landscape, but it was a very nice ride nevertheless. We got quite a few canters in, and Apollo was on his best behavior, once I checked him once or twice when he started to bundle up. We did the entire perimeter loop of the park, plus Turkey Loop, completing the 4.75 miles in good time. The horses seemed quite comfortable, and appreciated getting out on the trail again, they've been hanging out in the yard for way too long! A quick stop at the grocery store on the way home, and we soon settled down to a bowl of home-made split pea soup that I had made yesterday for the family, and a couple of playoff games. A great way to start our fifth year on the road with the horses!