14 miles today Time 2 hours 47 minutes

It was just me, Chris, and our horses today. But we had an excellent ride. The first fifteen minutes was pretty hairy, but once the greenies got that all worked out of their system things went fine! Phebes and Toby took turns leading, and let me tell you Phebes does not like following. But we did anyway. The trails of course were muddy, the downhills slick. We trotted the flats, and shimmied down the hills. We kept to trail A and took a break after the first time around for lunch. Then we reversed and did A backwards, and the second time it only took us an hour so we made really good time. Our first loop was slower as we were working out behavioral issues (me and Phebes, Toby was good except for stink eye and they were both doing that). She trotted out today at a nice 7 mph. She was very sure footed, and I'm beginning to get used to trotting in the mud. We also tried out Phebes new saddle which is heavier, but flares at the shoulder, and she did a lot better today not breaking into a canter. It happened a few times, but a correction brought her back down. This was by far the best ride I've ever had on her, and we accomplished a lot today. Chris is so much fun to ride with, she just takes things in stride, like Toby dragging a tree limb with his tail, which convinced me I'll be trimming Phebes to just below the hocks and soon. She got a little branch caught in hers and was none to happy about it. Oh! and Rudolph did appear out there in the woods, he looked a lot like me! The rest of the reindeer were out there because we spotted at least five bounding through the woods. Good day, great ride. Our next ride will be at Brown County on the 27th if the weather cooperates. ~E.G.