That’s right, it’s a new era for me and the horses. They are both now only ten minutes from my house. I’ll let the photos do most of the talking today. I got my thumbnails to work, so you can click on the images to get a larger view.

But first, the part that I didn’t get any photos of… my morning ride on Lily. After my turn at feeding everyone, I let her eat a bit, then groomed and tacked up. We rode the mile down the road. The first half mile was done at a walk to warm up. Then a trot over a small bridge. First challenge was a farmer up in a tree in his orchard with a chain saw. It was the biggest spook Lily has done in a while, but she did settle down after we exchanged “Good Morning!” Ah, just a person with a noisy thing, not a horse eating monster set to jump down on her.

After the little bridge, there are a few long stretches beside the road of nice soft, grassy areas, perfect for a nice moving out trot or easy canter. Most vehicles are good about slowing down and giving a wide berth. I always smile pulling onto this road, as there are signs up that say, “Share the Road” with horses on them.

When we go down to the big bridge over the Willamette, Lily wasn’t too keen on crossing, so I got down and led her. Years ago, we crossed this same bridge, when it was being widened from one to two lanes. That time, she didn’t blink an eye! Despite the compressor running in the middle of the bridge and he HUGE backhoe working down below, complete with extremely sqeaky tank type treads. We will get there again! I have to remember that it’s been a long time since we have done this sort of thing together.

Once across that bridge, I mounted up again and we were off on trails. All along Lily was happily crunching on gravel. I haven’t found my tiny allen wrench to adjust my Renegades, so she was bare. Even so, she did great. We didn’t ride up very far today. I had to get back to turn out the other horses and also had to get on with my day to collect Vin!

On the way back to the barn, we had a nice short canter, some long trot and a good walk to cool out. It was nice to get Lily into a sweat once again! When I pulled her saddle, it was cool enough that steam rose from her back. I threw a cooler on and let her finish her breakfast, while I turned out the other horses. I think that I might baby her too much sometimes. She is tougher than I think. After I dismounted, I realized that I need to get tougher. I haven’t ridden that long in a while and my legs felt like rubber. But it was so worth it!!

After many phone conversations organizing the crew and logistics, I was off on the freeway to the old barn. Once there, I pulled mats and puttered around waiting for the crew to arrive. My husband has the excellent idea of using the flatbed to bring a full load of hay, while I had the help. If it had been drier, it would have worked out great, but I ended getting my truck stuck and needed a push to get it out. No flatbed today. Back to hitch up the horse trailer. I had planned to fill the truck with hay, load Vin and be done for the day. Instead, we hauled stall mats, my stock tank and filled the rest of the trailer with hay. About two tons in all.

Vin has never lived in a stall before, so this will be a new experience for him. It will be interesting to see how quickly he becomes a stall baby. Paisano certainly took to it easily. It used to be hard to get him to step out when it was wet outside.

The end of a long and productive day! Tomorrow morning, I’ll head out to feed again and see how he is settling in. If all goes well, he will be turned out with the 8 month old colt who already lives there. Now off to bed for me!