Another good LSD ride with Doc & Lida

It wasn't a "perfect" ride day for Phebes, a couple of minor moody mare things, but for the most part I can't complain. My girl gets real sticky if she is beside another horse (doesn't want to pass, like she is bungee corded to them), behind another horse she is all stinky mare ears, and wants to follow way to close behind. Once I get her around, and get a few hundred yards of empty zone behind us, and a clear trail ahead she sets into a nice little slow trotting groove and life is good! Thankfully Doc is a very good natured gelding. Lida GPS'd us at just over 16 miles today, and I've GPS'd many times prior and always got 17 on this loop combination, so don't know what to think. By zigging right off of A onto B we may have lost that half mile. Both of our measures are shorter than the park maps (by their maps we did 19.5), who knows!

Booting went great for both horse's today. Doc wore bares, and Phebes had on her Easyboot Gloves. The only issue with mine is with my disabled finger I couldn't take them off. Had to have Doug peel them off when we got home. Phebes drank some on trail, ate some hay at our break, and ate more hay when we quit. I noticed that even though it was pretty hot today, Phebes was running an overall lower pulse rate than the last time at the same speed. She was pulsing about 10 beats less than she has been. Her uphill pulsing only pushed over 130 twice at the peak of a couple steep climbs at the trot. Many of the hills she was in the 120's or less and that was at a trot! I'm probably only going to get one more long ride (a hill ride) in with Lida, then Phebes and I will shoot for another slow 24 mile ride day the first or second weekend in October. After that I guess I'd better put extra focus on hills because that is where we are heading. ~E.G.