Donna and I went for a nice long conditioning ride a couple of days ago to the loop that was added onto Tevis this last year. It's a long grade down (7 miles), and then back up. Worth the drive to have the horses do a long upgrade. You'd think by the photo above, a storm was brewing. Ahhh....not to be. Not sure when we're going to ever have rain again. It's just soooo weird to be riding on trails in t-shirts and no mud. In the short term, it's absolutely wonderful but if it doesn't rain soon we are going to be screwed this summer. Needless to say, our ride was perfect.
Donna and Lily on the way down. We ran, walked and rode all to the bottom. According to Donna's GPS we both used up 850 calories. Does that mean I can drink more wine when I get home???
Here is Ali'i & I on our way up. I was wearing my fluffy riding pants and had 3 jackets tied to the saddle. Poor Ali'i also has his winter coat on and he can't take it off! Is his butt not so handsome????
Here is the top and on the way to Foresthill, part of the trail that leaves Chicken Hawk which was a vet check and the top of the 7 mile grade. Quite a few horses were pulled at Chicken Hawk this last Tevis because their butts were kicked after doing that hill. It's very deceiving because it's not a steep grade, but just LONG and gradual. It was fun this day to ride Ali'i without doing some 50 some odd miles beforehand and have him feel so strong going up. He has a nice attitude too and didn't seem to mind.
Back to Michigan Bluff and our trailers. This used to be the 1 hour hold vet check for Tevis but the hold was changed to Foresthill. Crew can be here to help cool your horse down, as it's usually the hottest part of the day and you've just come out of the blazing hot canyons. The people that live here are very nice and seem to welcome the riders. It's a cool town.
So, this is cemented into the water trough in town. How wonderful is this???? I might have to work on this type o' buckle.
We did 16.31 miles. Nice, good workout. I love living here.
