Our first ride since Indy

We hauled out on Sunday to the park.  Since we won't get to compete for mileage again until Fall and I'm unclear what my actual ride goals are...at this point, we are just working on building up speed.   Keep in mind that speed for us is averaging 7 mph which as yet we cannot do, and probably won't be able to do for some time.  My training area is plagued with rutted mud, I'll have to post a picture some time. We trot 10 yards, and walk through rutted mud, trot 8 more, walk through rutted mud, if we get lucky 12 yards (wa-hooooo!) rutted mud.  I'm not talking soft easy peasy mud, but R-U-T-S that are like little post holes to twist a leg in.  It just is what Versailles State Park is.  However there is one mile on S loop that is rolling, and so far is not rutted.  So we do laps there now working on trotting speed (above 7 mph) and canter (at any speed she's willing to go).  We did about a dozen short canter intervals, and amazingly she actually "asked" to kick up the pace for a short stretch.  My goal if you can call it that is to get that little circle up to the point of cantering half of it, however long it takes, and then repeating the loop.  This week it was spotty, as she had to desensitize to the new sights, spook, and google eye everything.  But by our third lap, things were smoothing out.  Then we shot off to muddyville over on the B trail and our speed average quickly plummeted, but it was the first time in a long time she was able to average 5 mph over the course of a conditioning ride.   She is putting out a lot more umphf than that on an endurance ride, and she is having some post ride muscle soreness day after which I feel I can fix if we can only get our training rides chugging along faster than we plan to go at a ride.  This is pretty elementary, and knowing it is one thing, getting the horse to work it...well---that is another.  But that is the summer goal.  I'd like her to be able to canter/long trot 2 miles at a sustained speed of about 9 mph by the end of summer.   That way when we shift to canter on long service roads she won't be using muscle groups that have never been used before.  

Have a great day all....I'm off to the land of mental health services ~   E.G.