Spenceville Ride

Joined my riding buddy J again today for a ride in the Wheatland area. Chief the 6 yr old Pintabian was my mount again and we had a blast! We loaded the horse's up at J's and trailered to Spenceville Wildlife Area. Nice footing, hot and open in some parts but enough shade to make it okay, 4 or 5 nice water crossings, a great lunch stop with picnic tables in the shade, and a pretty reliable breeze made for a great 3 1/2 hr ride over 10 miles.

My (piglet) steed, Chief:

 Couldn't quite fit all of both of our fat heads in! There's another forearm tattoo making an appearance :)

Great water crossing to start and end the ride at, following J on her Mustang mare

Just love this pic!

 Wide open spaces for trotting and cantering:

 Pose-off! Yeah, not bad

Spotty butt! Went through 4 or 5 gates and between J and I we managed to open and close just about all of them from horseback:

Here J comes, trot trotting on her mare! Her mare was great and kept calm when we trotted away/out of sight.

 Ahh, somce cool greenery and shade near a pond, ready for a break:

 Lunch stop! Complete with picnic tables:

 Hey there we are! Feeling chipper after some snacks in the shade:

Surefooted pair making their way carefully along:

Chief has such cool markings! I could look at pictures of him all day

 Can you spot the trail obstacle? I didn't at first and I was about 10' away!

Good Chiefy drinking. He drank 4 times in 10 miles!

Chief says NO and I say GO up that hill..

..And up we went!

Cruising on Chief:

 Riding the nice road back to the trailers:

Recruited some passing hikers to get us both in a photo, and it's in focus! Score!

Oh yeah, wading, wading in the water!

Chiefy drinking again, like a star:

Just two cool cats cooling off:

Someone else was enjoying the water this afternoon, too:

See the trailer in the distance? The horses did!

Mare says "Hoo yeah, trailer in sight! Pep in my step!"

 Chief after 10 miles, still eating as usual:

 We un-tacked and took them back down to the first water crossing to cool down:

I couldn't resist the water so waded in and scrubbed their sweaty saddle marks:

The mare wasn't sure about this random person in the water scrubbing her, but decided it was kosher enough to stand for!

Working on deciphering her brand..so far we are reading CA, 1998, and 2110?5 Can't tell the second to last mark on registration #...Anyone good reading these? I know it's darn hard from the picture but give it a shot!

Another awesome ride with a good friend and fun horses! Another session with Joey and the trainer scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, looking forward to it.