This day of the ride took us over a great deal of sand stone rock face, which ended up slowing us considerably. While we probably could have trotted more, in some places it was hard to determine where the trail was, and we ended up caught up with a couple other horses which weren't going quickly over the sand stone. Even if we had passed them, one was going a pretty hot clip on the dirt, so getting ahead wasn't really an option.
Hoss wasn't especially interested in going very quickly, and I found I had to push to keep his pace up much of the time. We did end up catching up to Laurie Birch and Scudd Run, which gave Hoss that little bit of extra motivation he needed.
The vet check was at about 17 miles. I managed to forget to give Hoss his first dose of electrolytes, so made sure he got his bran mash at the vet check. He once again recovered quickly and well.
The second "half" of the ride was long and felt it. We stayed with Laurie and one other rider. While I normally prefer to ride alone, I can't complain about riding with Laurie. She sets consistent pace and her horse is unrelenting. It's nice to find a horse that can "inspire" Hoss. The drawback is, he starts to get attached and starts wanting to protect the horse he's with. Especially if it's a mare. I spent a good deal of time correcting ill-mannered behavior.
We finished in decent time. After vetting and unsaddling, I realized I had managed to completely forget to give Hoss his electrolytes. His only dose had been at the vet check in his bran mash. Of course he got another dose after the ride, and would get more in the morning, and he certainly seemed to be feeling just fine, so I didn't worry about it.
During the ride I had noticed Hoss's hind shoes sounded odd. I checked them when we got back to discover they were thin and nearly gone. They would never last another day. I reshod his hind feet and hoped I wouldn't have to do anything else with his feet for a while!
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