The Hives and Lows.

Yesterday, despite the cooling temperatures, was a perfect day for a trail ride. T and I packed up and headed out to Birds Hill Park, and plodded along the grassy, tree-lined trails, winding wherever they led us. Her horse Chico is a bit of a slow poke, and Moon is a bit of a speed demon so I used the time while I was waiting for them to catch up to work with Moon on his turn-on-the-fore. I was hoping to use the methods from yesterday's lessons to help Moon focus more on me while we're riding the trails.

Can't say if I was successful or not, and I tried not to spend too much of our 'fun' ride working and training him, but at least I didn't feel like he was getting away with murder. I don't want him to think we never have fun together and just work, work, work.

After 2 hours on the trail the sun was nearly set and we made it back to the trailer without any incidents. There's something special about watching the sun set on horseback while riding with a good friend...

I let T know our move-in date at W's and she graciously offered to drive the truck and trailer so I could hang out at the barn longer and then head straight home afterwards. She's such an amazing person, and even told me that if I ever need the truck and trailer, I'm more then welcome to it. It means the world to me that she understands so fully why we're doing this in the first place and supports us along the way.

I of course, invited her to come out and ride Moon or watch whenever she'd like, since she won't have arena access over the winter, and it's a nice treat. It's the least I can do.

She also invited me out to the Pembina Valley two Friday's from now to go trail riding with her. The terrain there is gorgeous and I'm beyond excited to head out. Despite us having moved to W's by then, she again was awesome and offered to pick us up! : ) We've even made tentative plans to continue our Thursday trail rides through the winter, so long as the weather isn't too miserable.

So that concluded yesterday. When we got back to the farm, we let the boys free in their paddock and the air was cold despite the lack of wind. Winter was approaching quickly.

I got home feeling kinda off, and no surprise, looked in the mirror to see that I was covered in hives. *sigh* I have the weirdest allergy to leather, and silly me, didn't wear gloves on our trail ride. Apparently 2 hours in contact was enough to set off a bad reaction. Really, who rides but is allergic to leather?

On another note, it *looks* like things will go through with the saddle, though I'm still waiting on an email address to send the money to. Ideally I'd like to get the process finished by tonight, and have him shipping the saddle by Monday. HOPING!

Then I can head down to the US and pick up my new gear! And stop spending money... : P