Observations

 Sad when something as big as a horse can only partly block out the wideness of your butt!

 Hmmm...what is she up to this time?

 Here we go again and how humiliating to have purple tape on your nose.

We're back!  I'm a dirty muddy mess but she says I did good.

We headed out on this last day of December into the cold and wet gloom to attempt some intervals on a park service road.  Journey will have to get the pads into her boots if we are going to do that, she just was unwilling to move out.  The gravel is that sharp chunky stuff, so it just wasn't working.  Instead we ended up doing our 12 mile out and back course.  Not one step hardly out of the mud.  Places the mud was deep enough we had to pick our way through.  Journey is not a good mud navigator.  She wants to get on the high edge of the trail rather than plant her feet "on" the trail, which of course results in her feet sliding out from under her.  We managed to get it done though, took twenty minutes off the time of our last muddy ride (though still slow by endurance standards).  We passed a group of horses, and though she called out to them she kept going where I had her pointed.  No spooks, the pace was kind of a boy scout shuffle due to the footing.  I'm still looking for the perfect hill and not finding it.  I have great hills here to work on but they just aren't safe in the winter due to the clay soil, it is so slick.  So I'm going to have to pick up a caulking gun and get the pads Goobered into Journey's boots so she is more comfortable on rock than she is currently.  All in all...a good ride.