In The Nick of Time

Rhio wonders where we are

It's been at least 3 weeks since Gesa & I have been able to get out to ride together.  And it's been longer than that since Rhio's last fast ride.  Luckily, the weather & our schedules aligned to allow us a quick evening jaunt on some new trail tonight.

We're always thrilled to see new trail!

This is state snowmobile trail, and has been recently mowed in preparation for winter.  Yes, I realize it is only the middle of September, but snow flies sooner than we would like to admit here in northern Minnesota!  Gesa had the opportunity to explore this trail a bit previously and determined that it is high ground and suitable for riding.  Many (most?) of the snowmobile trails around here cross swampy, low areas which are fine in the frozen months but impassable in the summer.  It is always exciting to find new trail that is high ground!  

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we were almost an hour later getting mounted than we had hoped, but just decided that meant our pace would be fast and we'd just see how far we could get before dark.  Rhio was revved up and ready to rock-n-roll as soon as we picked our way around the gate ("No motorized vehicles except snowmobiles") and took off cantering up the first long hill.  I could have whooped and hollered with glee I was so thrilled to be out there!  

It's really too dark for picture taking, but here we are crossing the bridge and heading back to the trailer.

With Kelso tagging along, we made it nearly 4 miles and just crossed a bridge (for practice - both boys walked across and back again without hesitation) in about 35 minutes, then decided our light was fading fast and we'd best head back to the trailer.  Well, those ponies seemed to know exactly what we were thinking, and we were off like rockets!  We did the return trip in 25 minutes, if that tells you anything about our pace :)  It was a blast to be flying along in the gathering dusk - and it felt like we were going faster the darker it got, though I know we weren't actually speeding up.  It was just light enough to load up when we got back, and both horses were steaming in the chill night air.