RHR: 44
HR on return: 52
HR at 10 min: 40
Terrain: Moderate to Challenging
Distance: Approx 12 miles
Avg Speed: Approx 5 mph
Ride Time: 2.5 hrs
This was a ride at the steel bridge outside of Spring Valley. My dogs were nuts, so I had to go somewhere I could take them along. There are very few places where I can get away with taking them. It's an area that has many challenging spots, lots of rocks, and just is a "slow" set of trails. The advantage, though, was that I was able to do a good, challenging "hill day."
I saddled up, grateful that our recent hot spell had let up. It was only in the 90s! The breeze was nice. Okay, in some places, it was a wind, but even that was nice. I turned on my GPS unit, only to have it give me a low battery warning. Memo to me: put spare batteries in my saddle bag! Oh, well. I know the area well enough to have a reasonable guesstimate of my distance. I decided to go ahead and ride without a bit, since Hoss had been so great two days earlier. I did, however, pack it in my saddle bag.
I got on and we crossed under the bridge to do trails on the other side of the highway first. We reached the river, and I guess I should have paid closer attention to what was happening with my dogs. It was only later that I noticed they were thoroughly drenched. If I had been watching them, I would have noticed that the river was insanely deep! As it was, I discovered this when Hoss stepped into the river, and his front end dropped away nearly two feet! He's gotten really good at handling situations like this. The winter rains created a bunch of surprise bogs, so he's had a lot of practice! Some horses, I would have ended up in the river because they'd have dumped their heads and been on their forehands. Hoss, though, he shifts his weight back and I'm able to keep myself in the middle of him. He did not want to cross, but I still hadn't noticed my soaking from head to foot dogs, so I was sure it couldn't be that bad. The river's never been so deep there! I urged him on, and he waded in. He hadn't taken three steps when my feet went under water. By mid stream, I was in a third of the way up my shins, over the tops of my boots. Hoss started trying to follow the dogs, thinking that wherever they went, the water would be least deep. Good thinking, but, unfortunately, Hoss weighs an awful lot more than those dogs, and he just sank. I did my best to keep in the middle of the crossing, but he was pushing to my left, where I'm weak. Coming out of the river, he ran my knee into a tree trunk. That hurt!
Once out of the river, Hoss headed out at a nice clip. I was beginning to worry that I'd made a mistake in not bitting him up, but it turned out to be a fine decision. I felt like he was actually listening to me better with the reins simply clipped to his halter than he does with the bit. Now, I wouldn't do this in just any situation. Having had him run away with me with the bit in his mouth, certain circumstances will just mean he has to wear a bit so I can be reasonably in control. Just the halter gives him too many opportunities to ignore me.
We did some flat trails first to warm up. Then it was up the steep hills behind the high school to the water tower! It was still warm enough that I wasn't wanting to push real hard. I let him walk up the steepest hills. Still, he did some trotting and a little cantering on those hills.
We crossed back under the bridge (obliging us once again to cross the ridiculously deep river) and headed up what is known as the Ribbon trail. This is a steep trail that, when I hiked it on foot, in some places I felt like I needed rock climbing gear. Hoss is getting pretty good at this stuff, too. He picks his footing with care and dug in with his feet nicely. Once we topped the rise, we made our way to the next set of hills, the SDG&E access roads. These hills are steep and have lots of rocks. The steepest stuff I had him walk up, but I did insist on a little trotting on the milder uphills. Coming down off this trail, the downhill gets very steep. Lots of learning to be careful and keep his butt underneath him!
Once we were back on the somewhat more level trails, we made our way to the next river crossing. Once across, we were on the dirt road. We like to run here! So, I let him go and we had a nice, if brief, gallop along the road. Then we turned up into the next set of hills. These trails are a little more treacherous, and a horse has to have his wits about him to keep from falling into the deep ruts the winter rains cut into the trails. And this area is particularly rocky. My daughter and I, the first time we took our horses on this trail, decided to call it "Bitterrock Trail." So, again, mostly walking in this area.
We made our way across the top of the ridge and back down, to cross the river on the bridge. We made our way back to the trailer, where his heart rate was at a very nice 52! We did walk most of the trail, but still, after hard hill riding, this was awesome! At ten minutes, he was at 40bpm, lower than when I'd taken his heart rate before we left. Of course, when I took his first heart rate, I was having a hard time hearing his heart due to the traffic on the very nearby highway. When we got back, it was easier to hear him.
All in all, despite having to guess our distance and speed, a very nice and respectable ride.
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