tshirt weather

It happens every February. And it still seems strange. Almost 70 degrees, but dropping 30+ degrees every night. Major has just started growing his winter coat when everyone else is starting to shed. I was able to wear just a tshirt for two lovely rides, before I actually had to put on a long-sleeve for the third. Pity! The thought of tshirt weather makes me sing (sorry) the fun song of the same name by The Lucksmiths.

A long weekend left lots of time for riding. On Friday I headed out for a ride with manners. And speed. At the same time. It took awhile. Heading down to the lake on the quartz trail was fine, Major was a bit jiggy and hot, when we got there it was just beautiful.

You can't see it. But there was a monster. And it ate a mountain biker.

At the bottom on this hill we usually ride right. There is a cool rock wall with a large ditch/hole behind it. And mountain bikers doing tricks. Major was fine, until one of the riders rode down into the hole was eaten by the monster. Head up, dragon snort, maybe time to flee! I didn't give him a second chance, and hopped off. I needed no explosion today!

We walked up to the riders, Major snorting and being ridiculous. Till he saw they were riders, with bikes. And then he didn't care, and tried to see if the guy had something for him to eat. Sigh...

Walked a bit more and got back on. Worked on control…Major wanted to just all-out go for it on the nice sandy trail. But he was being a locomotive, not listening, so we walked, trot, stop, listen. And headed for the upper trail, all singletrack. I love singletrack. And so does Major. And he actually listens up there. So we went to Granite Bay, speedy but not silly. And back. He wanted to canter. Fine, but I asked him for collected canter not strung-out ridiculousness, and got a lovely response, nice round canter, which just eats up the trails and turns. Fun! I know it doesn't solve my issue of open territory silliness, but it was a good place to work from.

sparkly lake, fuzzy ears

The next ride was completely different. Major had to be on his best behavior, as we were showing K and Falcon how to get to the lake trail. We took the most direct route through the forest, it is a maze of trails, I just wanted to show her the easiest way first. Then we rode along the lake, warm sun, tiny breeze, mostly behaved horses. Major was a little bored (too bad, deal with it) and actually was seeming to try and look for things to spook at. Like other horses. Sigh. But was mostly fine. Going back home up Barking Dog Hill he wanted to move out, I had to remind him we were being a nice guide pony, no more silliness. We all arrived home in one piece, it is fun to show people who haven't ridden here how many trails we really do have!

take the alflafa out of the perfectly good bucket, eat the yummy pieces, make a mess

now eat the leftover on the dirt, yum!

And one more ride! Major (and I) were happy to head out with his best buddy Friday (and my friend C) for the first time since our Cronan Ranch misadventure. C is still recovering, but wanted to do a short ride, just to get back on the horse. Friday hadn't been ridden for almost a month, we just did walk trot in the forest, with very good behavior. Towards the end of the ride Friday was finally figuring out, "Hey, I'm out. This is FUN!" and tried to pull some shenanigans. No such luck for him, we rode the rest of the way home and let our (not tired) horses munch on grass while we all stood in the sun.

But just like that, our tshirt weather has turned to rain. Since it really hasn't rained anything measurable since the beginning of January, I'm fine with it. I'll sit in my office and imagine another ride. Major can stand under his roof, where he won't melt, and dream of spring grass.