Roses and riding

There is no smell as beautiful as a rose, and there were plenty of these lovely wild roses along the road when I took Gussie out for a ride yesterday. I'd ride along and breath deeply of their heady fragrance, and it would stay with me for a few minutes, then I'd pass another one... heavenly!
We had a nice ride, worked on rating her speed at the trot; she kept wanting to break into a soft lope, or speeding up in the trot, but she did eventually stay at the pace I asked for. We rode down past the neighbors broodmare band, they have some nice quarter horses and a bunch of curious two year olds followed us along the fence line as we rode past. There were about 6 mama and babies, but they were off on the other side of the big pasture so I didn't get a good look; I love watching the foals play and was hoping I'd get to see them a little closer. Maybe next time.

I had my little Sony pocket camera with me. We saw a whitetail doe close to home on our way back, I sure hope it stays out of our yard, I don't want deer eating my garden!
Rio continues to improve standing tied, he did a couple of little test pulls this morning but quickly stopped. I actually like it when they test things out, because then you know they have it figured out and know the limits and boundaries. I'm really excited that he's shedding out, and I take my Grooma rubber brush to him every day to help it along. It's almost like unwrapping a gift! I think he's going to be blacker than Kai.