There's Gold in them thar hills...21 Days and counting

But I guess it depends on how you look at it from a training perspective. Slow work? Yes. Speed? No. But when I'm riding solo speed really isn't much of an option for me from a safety perspective. I know some people don't feel worried about their alone time with their horse. Puddin' was the type of horse that you could enjoy that way. She would spook or spin now and then, but as the miles piled on these behaviors became less and less. Then she went blind in her left eye, and has to have bute daily so story over. I hope that eventually Phebes will get better. Tonight wasn't one of Phebes better rides as she was pulling some stunts. We had a couple of "conversations" out there in the woods. Thought I had it whipped until I decided to canter up the field where she promptly decided that maybe she'd just unload me. Another conversation on the topic of gait. We managed 8 miles of hill work tonight, and every time she googled, balked, or broke gait we would have a repeat of whatever hill we happened to be working on. If she trotted half way up and broke into a canter, then we turned around, shimmied back down, and did it over until it was right. We did manage to make it back in one piece. Her pulse was high when we came in, I pulled the saddle, and told Doug to scratch the itchy places and her pulse dropped down to 60 within a minute. So the work load tonight was alright. The ground is soft, muddy in places, the temps are perfect in the high 60's to low 70's. Phebes is starting to shed off her winter fur. OH!! She drank good on trail twice tonight. REALLY TANKED UP :) E.G.