When I put the splint boots on Blaze’s hind legs he did the horsey goose step for a good 20 steps and gave me a real laugh. We headed out and had a really mellow, fun ride, just chatting away with only 2 sustained trots the whole time, which was just fine for Blaze and good practice being mellow for Sonny, who has come an awesomely long way brain-wise since I started riding with them last year. He is a leggy natural athlete but needed some miles and LSD to get his brain together; he was so quiet and relaxed on the trail today, C has really done a great job with him. He’ll be doing his debut 50 at Cache Creek next month and I have total faith in the pair.
By the time we turned around at just over 6 miles out the sun had come out and it had warmed up quite a bit. Blaze grazed and had a few sips of water along the way, and even peed and pooped out on the trail, which was great. He generally doesn’t do much of any of the above on rides at the lake, no matter the distance, and since he hasn’t been out a whole lot it was nice to see him taking care of himself. He was in great shape end of last summer and has been out enough that I knew he could handle today, but it always eases the mind to see positive signs like eating, pooping, etc.
Heading back up the ridge behind C:
A nice day over the dam:
Aww, he’s such a stinkin cutie:
We cruised back into the parking lot at 12.6 miles in 4 1/2 hours, so yes, you could say we were taking our time, hah! It was a great ride though, so good to be out on the trail with C again, and exciting to see how far her gelding has come mentally. And of course happy to have my boy out again. See, he survived:
Nice even sweat marks from the saddle and the Epics stayed on fine, though the gaiter is tearing off one and should probably be addressed..eventually.
I think my mom left her cold with me, I had a blast on the ride today but since getting home and sitting down I’m feeling less and less lively..well the 2 days of forecast showers/rain starting tomorrow is just in time for me to be sick and healthy again real quick-like, right?!
Redheaded Endurance 
Your title sounds like the one of the “Billy and Blaze” books I loved as a child! I looked up the titles: “Blaze Finds the Trail” could be this ride, or “Blaze Finds Forgotten Roads.”
Glad you had a good time, those causal rides are so needed. I'm sure Blaze was happy to get out, he says “pick me, pick me! Look how cute I am!”
He IS so cute. *I* now have race brain from riding Desire and had to fight the “ahhh he walks soooo sloowwwlyyyy we'll never make time” pinging around my head about once an hour..but it was a great ride.
I really liked the post title because I felt like it sounded like a kid's horse book!! I must have remembered “Billy and Blaze” subconsciously 🙂