Erin D. and I went to Panther Creek to ride again on Taos and Ritza. We decided to do a different loop in hope the trails would be clear. They were better but there still was a few trees down that we had to walk over or go around. We ended up getting lost and riding on a hiking trail. The arrows were a different color, but at least we were on a trail! Soon it got too rocky and narrow and Ritza decided we should go back to the other trail. The first part of the ride she was distracted and kind of out of it. After she realized "she" needed to take control of the situation she power walked back to the trail and was totally focused all the way back. It was like she finally got warmed up as Taos was slowing down. There were lots of rocks for the horses to navigate and the lake was beautiful. We rode for 3 hours and with our detour probably rode about 10 miles.

This year I moved Bella & Ritza up to Intermediate Horse Pairs at the Gayla Bluegrass CDE May 16-17, 2009. It was really fun and the girls did well, despite not being their usual selves. We finished in a respectable 2nd place and are looking forward to the next CDE! Erin Woodcock was my trusty groom/navigator and did a great job handling everything. Later I found out Mercury was in Retrograde so it all made perfect sense.

For Mother's Day, Erin Doyle and I decided to go trail riding at Panther Creek State Park. I rode Izzy and she rode Taos. We decided this summer to try and trail ride as much as we can to get young hunt horses ready for next season. The weather was beautiful and sunny after a week of rain and storms. What we didn't think about was all the trees that had blown down blocking the trail in multiple spots. Being foxhunters I knew we could get around the trees no problem. However, the very steep muddy slopes up around or down and around where a bit more than I realized! We made it around the loop, but just barely! Our horses didn't know what they were in for, but they took it all in stride like a good field hunter should do. We rode for 3 hours and about 10 miles. A good day to start our trail riding season:)