Pete Winward Loop Trail

 Fall is (almost) in the air! The maple leaves are beginning to change up on the mountain, so my friend Sharon and I headed up to check it out. We rode a loop near the Pete Winward reservoir. The trail we rode is not an official forestry service trail so they don't maintain it which makes it fun to ride because of all the dead fall! Jetta led the way and trotted easily over the fallen logs and she actually jumped a couple of them! What a fun ride she is! I may end up having to take her over to Zephyr Ranch to play on the cross country course one day. She might just like jumping! We've got lots of basic schooling left to do first, but eventually we may get around to doing some grid work and cross rails; she is forward and gaining confidence and is certainly athletic enough to jump.

She went well today and trotted up some big hills. She seems to be energy efficient and when we come back down to a walk, she recovers quickly. I need to get out my stethoscope and actually find out her resting heart rate and do some real P&R's. She seems to be pretty fit. Fit enough to be showing a little feisty attitude once in a while!

I had fun playing with the helmet cam again today. I'll post a couple of clips when they are uploaded. It's a great trail winding through the quakies and pines with good footing and lots of logs to pop over. Riding such an enthusiastic horse on a trail like this is a blast!

This evening I logged onto the EasyCare blog to read the daily post, and low and behold, there was Jetta's hoof! (Yes, even though I trim almost 50 horses each month, I still recognize her hooves!) Actually one of the customer care consultants wrote a post about my boot fitting dilemmas with Jetta a few months ago. I am very happy to report that her boots are still performing perfectly which I credit to a proper fit, power straps to fine-tune the fit, and a correctly and regularly maintained hoof. Zero boot failures and NOT counting! Gotta love it! See their August 27 post at:

 http://blog.easycareinc.com/

Cruising!

Dirt bikes! 

And what goes up, must come down...