Not all good days are sunny

There was a threat of rain yesterday, in fact it rained most of the night. I was a little reluctant to ride, because, well, maybe I might melt....  but I sucked it up and by golly it didn't rain. It was actually quite a nice day for riding!
We were accompanied by our friend Michelle on the 19 year old mare Kit; you may remember them from my posts at the swimming hole last summer.

Kit and Shayla;s mare Rose

 Same area as our last ride but a different road that took us past a channel of water.

This area, over a hundred years ago, was under water as it is the end of the Kootenay River and the beginning of Kootenay Lake. It is very flat land so I assume it was quite marshy and full of nutrient rich silt that the farmers were coveting as farmland. As system of dykes and channels allowed the drainage and development over the decades to what it is now- a lovely agricultural area where livestock, hay, tree nurseries, and many other crops grow.

(Photo by Shayla)

This view is looking north towards Kootenay Lake. Just before Kootenay Lake is a small lake called Duck Lake, in the summer it is terrible for mosquitoes there so this is a good time to ride there. The road we took skirts Duck Lake, but close to the lake the road is closed to all but foot traffic during the spring thaw. We figured that meant horses too as their hoofprints were rather deep in spots.

Mostly the footing was really good and smooth so it allowed us to do some long trotting. I got Gussie kicked into high gear again- man that is an incredible trot on her! I have said before that Gussie is the smoothest  quarter horse I have ridden - it's true, even at a long trot!

Most of our ride was much more sedate though. There were 2 incidents when birds startled the horses- one where ducks flew up right beside the road where there was a culvert with a pool of open water where the ducks were feeding, and along the channel where we were doing our first long trot; the channel had ice on it until we reached a spot of open water and a pair of swans were startled by us and flew up. The horses put on the brakes! Gussie didn't really spook as she was in the lead and the swans flew up behind her, but she stopped very quickly. Her version of spook is to stop with a brace on her front legs and just stand there and look.

We rode over 8 miles, and by the time we got back to the trailers we had some tired mares!

We have a couple more rides planned for this week, one (or maybe 2!) more in this area and one in the middle of town up the tower road overlooking the Creston valley.

Riding day 27