Canyon Ride

Nothing lifts my spirits like riding through the woods on a forward, enthusiastic mare on a glorious fall afternoon. Yesterday was such a day. Jetta and I missed our dream of riding at the Moab Canyons endurance ride this year due to various unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances, but we met our fitness and readiness goals. So today we celebrated that fact by taking a "leisurely" stroll around the Ponderosa Trail. "Leisurely" is a very relative term when it comes to Jetta. Yes, I asked her to stay at a walk for most of the ride, but she "power-walked" up the mountain, around and down the other side with enthusiasm.

The deer hunt is over and the deer must have known it; we saw several deer out and about, and we saw six elk--the first I've seen all year! One bull had good sized antlers, too. Jetta's head went up and she stared, but that was her less-than-dramatic reaction to her first elk sighting! We also saw a sage hen, and lots of wild turkeys. The woods were beautiful even though the leaves have fallen. Check out the pictures:

It's kind of hard to feel sorry for yourself on a ride like this, so I didn't. We missed Moab, but we'll still get to Jetta's first endurance ride. In the meantime, we'll continue training and work on getting her saddle fit issues sorted out. And we'll keep enjoying rides like this one!