Thanks Shade

I was bumming this morning. It felt cold and damp and I was having a hard time getting motivated to ride my horse. Finally got out there about 1. Chris talked to her on our practice AC board last week and said she was ready to get serious about conditioning. I was wondering thursday when I rode, it was cold and breezy and neither of us seemed to want to get very serious. But today Shade was definitely sending signals that she wanted to get some miles in. At the start she was pretty unsure as some neighbors were plinking/target practicing just past the top of the rise where I can go straight, or turn left. Shade is very nervous of guns (she regcognizes a rifle by sight) as well as gunfire. I got to try out the ESCT that was one of the talks at my MRER convention yesterday. Not sure it was doing much but Shade did keep going forward a few steps and pausing rather then trying to whirl and bolt and then when she'd gone quite a ways I got off and led her past the corner. Had a nice ride and on the way home a couple of moto-cross style cyclists caught her eye. Last time she saw them she seemed very nervous. Today it was more curiosity. We were on the road home, and the cyclists turned on the irrigation ditch and went south of us. I gave Shade the option to turn away from them but she turned and followed them south, went over 1/2 a mile and went to within 50-100 yards (I'm lousy at judging distance) of their close loop point as they were jumping around an oil well pad site and Shade watched them for a while and then was ready to turn and head home. It was the perfect antidote for my winter blues. Then I wormed Sadie and her pen mate CJ this evening. Lots of farm chores that need to be done sometime that were ignored today but having had a nice ride makes everything good.