With temps even warmer, going up into the upper 70’s, short sleeves were in order for our second ride. This time we headed south, then east, essentially skirting a peninsula of private property that juts south into the park and must be circumnavigated to get to the eastern side of the park. We weaved through trees almost the entire day, with just a few stretches in the open. The northern-most trail on the east side had a few wet and muddy spots, but nothing compared to some places we’ve been. We ran into Wayne again, this time riding a pretty dapple gray (yesterdays was a chestnut or bay, can’t remember now), had another short chat, saw another couple riding from afar, but otherwise a nice quiet day, even when we ran into another bunch of cows! This time the horses didn’t pay any attention to them at all, thank goodness. Hubby strained his back on the home stretch, and unfortunately, was in a lot of pain the last 45 minutes or so. I took the shortest route I could find, which included the one Wayne had showed us yesterday, but it took longer than we expected because we couldn’t go faster than a walk or it hurt him too much. Got back to camp about 4:15, another 4+ hour, 10.5 mile trip, probably the two longest rides we’ve taken in a LONG time, much less back to back. I had Hubby go in side and put ice on his back while I tended to the horses. The weather forecast has changed for the worse, calling for temps dropping dramatically tonight, so no ride tomorrow anyway! Felt kind of guilty putting the winter blankets on the horses when it was still in the 60’s, but I knew the temps would be in the 30’s by morning, so I figured they’d forgive me. Settled down for the evening, last chance to enjoy having the windows open for a while!
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