Playing Hooky

I decided to skip work yesterday since it was absolutely beautiful out - the sun was shining and it was a whole 52 degrees! The great thing about work is they don't care when I come in, so a quick text to say that my plans had changed and I'll work on Thursday instead and I was free!

I still can't believe we're a month and a half into the new year and I still haven't hit the trails. We were wayyyyy overdue. I don't think Jetta's ever been so excited for a trail ride. Once I started putting on her hoofboots in the crossties she knew exactly what the plan was and she started impatiently bobbing her head (her version of pawing).

We got to the trails in record time. Jetta's front hoofboots twisted off during the trailer ride. She's due for a hoof trim right now so the front boots don't fit right. I really just need to sell them and get another pair. They never really fit right. But since she's due for a trim and since I was just planning on just walking we decided to do it barefoot. Winter is so wet and Jetta loves standing out in the rain which makes for soft feet, but with that little bit of extra hoof wall she wasn't tender at all on the gravel.

She was so excited to get on the trail. At this trailhead there's a wide bridge that you have to cross first and usually she stops and snorts at it (you know, just to make sure you realize that if she wanted to, she COULD refuse to cross it if she felt like it). But today there was no pause at all and she did her excited speed walk over the bridge, almost slipping a bit on the damp wood because she was cruising so fast!

We had a great ride. I let her trot a bit on a flat spot before getting to the hill. She really wanted to power up the hill but she is definitely not fit enough for that and I didn't want to overdo it so I made her walk. If she could have grumbled about it she would have. We kept the ride short and only went for an hour, doing barely over 3 miles. But it was perfect. I really hope we get to go on the trails more. Especially once Jetta starts getting more of a big belly my plan is to just go on trail walks and mosey along just to keep her brain engaged and keep her a little bit in shape.

Earlier, over the weekend, I went over the mountains to a two-day mare reproduction conference. Holy cow did it make me nervous for all the things that can go wrong! I might type up some of my notes and post them, but we'll see how much time I have this week. It was a TON of really great information but I am going to be an absolute basket case. Jetta is officially over half way through her pregnancy and tomorrow she hits the 180 day mark. Baby nugget is about the size of a beagle now!