Had a decent night sleep, got up at the usual time, fed everyone, had breakfast, then after awhile I saddled up Flash and off we went along the Withlacoochee River. I’ve ridden here on the property every other time we’ve been here, but this time I wanted to extend out into the Twin Rivers State Forest which borders it on the south and east. I decided to do the south section today, which follows the river for quite a ways, and it truly was lovely! Lola came along, and I was a little worried because on the map it seemed like there was a busy road we had to cross, but it turned out the trail went under the bridge, which was spanning the river, of course! Don’t know why I didn’t realize that before! So we were safe, though there was one section that paralleled the road for a bit, but far enough off of it not to be a concern. We stopped at one spot known as Pot Springs, I guess because there’s a spring that comes up in the river. Hard to see the difference, really, but they had it all decked out with a parking area and a ramp and hitching posts and a deck with benches, so we stopped for a few minutes, and Lola went down and took a swim. There was one point on the trail where the water was really high, high enough for me to pull my feet way up and to touch Flash’s belly! But he did really well, I was very proud of him for carrying on with very little fuss or hesitation! Saw a lot of wildlife today, too. A deer jumped out right in front of us, that startled Flash for a second, but I hung on. Saw a cat running along the trail, lots of big birds from buzzards to an owl, and on top of all that, the trail is COVERED with chaney plants! I’m going to have to come out and try to dig some up after the rain we’re expected over the next two days. On the way back, I took him into that nice little obstacle course, put him through that tunnel, you remember that? Tried him on some of the other ones, too, and he managed most of them. Got back to the farm, gave him a bath (he had rolled in his stall and had manure stains on him!), then let them graze in the yard for the rest of the afternoon. Maggie was generous the other day and gave me a gel pad for my saddle seat, and it really felt good! Last week my bum was kind of aching, but I figured that was because I was out of practice, but I was a little tougher this week. But the gel pad felt very good, too, and I only started to feel uncomfortable during the last half mile or so. Anyway, it was a lovely ride, then I did laundry, rested and read for most of the rest of the day. A bit of TV tonight, now I’m off for my shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!
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