March 14, 2014

Now that we are under daylight savings time, it’s light out late enough to get in a good conditioning ride after work. There is a rather boring, but still pretty, ride about a 15 minute trailer haul away. It’s a fire road that rides from the bottom of the mountain, up to the top, and ends at Skyline drive in Shenandoah National Park.

It a really good conditioning ride, and Poe needs his butt busted into shape (mine does too). My plan is to take him once or twice a week over the next month or two before the mounted games season kicks off.

Monday, a new friend from work, Beth, said she would enjoy going with me, which meant Simon could also go. This was good for a few reasons. Beth is an extrovert and great at conversation. I really enjoyed having the company. And Simon loved the ride and although he is in semi decent shape already, he can use the extra conditioning as well. Also, this meant that Poe did not have to go on his own which makes both Poe, and myself, much more relaxed.

Beth and I tacked up, trailered over, and rode out. We had an great time chatting and sharing stories. The weather was amazingly in the 60s, with fantastic views, and we got our sweat on.

Poe continued to express his distaste at being a trail pony. He did try a few minor stop, turn and run back to the trailer stunts, which were quickly averted. It was certainly easier with Simon and Beth along.

I forgot to set the trail tracker when we started out, but I remembered when we turned around for the ride back down the mountain. Below is an image of our ride back down. We managed about 7 miles in about 1 1/2 hours (the ride up we were mostly trotting, and we did a lot more walking on the way back down). Poe was mentally and physically worn out at the end. And although he never tried to break down to a walk from a trot, his trot incriminates began to slow as we went along. He worked up a nice sweat.

So far, so good! This plan should whip us all into condition. And I think Beth is interested in going on more rides in the future too! Yea!