Hi Darlin',
Slept pretty well, though woke up around 4:00 when it started raining heavily. That lasted until almost 9:00, which is when I finally got up and did my morning chores. After breakfast, I put on my rainsuit and saddled up Flash, and we headed out to do our assigned trail for today, the Lime trail. Thankfully it didn't rain, though there was still of a lot dampness around, and I had no trouble clearing out some of the branches and limbs that were in the way. When I got back to the arena area, they were putting up the vet tents, and the organizers were there. I let them know the condition of the trail, and Flash wouldn't sit still, so Stagg asked me if I wanted to help with something else, and I asked, "What do you have in mind?" Turns out they hadn't fully checked the blue trail over on the west side, the side that's NEVER open except on ride day, and he wanted to know if I would do it. OF COURSE!! Flash had been doing well all day, the weather had turned sunny, he seemed to have plenty of energy, and I would never turn down the chance to see the other side, which is where the vineyards and cattle and the rest of the working farm is. I met them at the bridge, which they opened for me, then staged themselves along the route to help me in some of the areas where the trail wasn't open yet. What an honor! I feel like I really earned my stripes today! In the end, we did over about 22 miles, which was more than I had bargained for on the first day, and I hope it doesn't take away from the two more days of riding we have left to do, but we'll see. Saw lots of wildlife today: deer, turkey, Canadian geese with lots of baby goslings. Not like the Serengeti, of course, but still, nice viewing today! Got back to find that one camper that had come in earlier had spread her paddock in such a way as to take up about three spaces, and her friends had come in and were about to park in the space I had hoped to have my friend Louis across from me, so there was a bit of awkwardness as we tried to straighten that out. They really cut back on our camping sites this year for volunteers, so it's definitely going to be crowded in this little space. I put out a couple of orange cones next to me, I'm hoping they'll still be there when Louis arrives. Anyway, it was a lovely day of riding, I just LOVE MY HORSE SO MUCH! Flash was brilliant, we cantered and gaited for miles, and had the best time! Hope he'll be as enthusiastic tomorrow! Finally settled down for the evening, looking forward to an early nice and another lovely ride tomorrow. Good night, sweetie! Love you!
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