Sunday December 3 2006 

            Yet another fine ride in the beautiful desert in winter. Five of us hauled to the mountains at Brady’s for our favorite good hard training ride for the horses. We motored right along and despite the very cool day (well, cool for Ridgecrest, not cool for Bridgeport – Gretchen rode in a short-sleeved Tshirt and vest, the rest of us had a few layers on) the horses worked up a good sweat. 

            Raffiq’s been shaved, what, two or three times since October, and he keeps growing his thick wooly bear coat back. He’s from Wyoming – maybe he’s growing that thick coat just in case he goes back there.

            Jan (visiting from Canada)’s horse had such a fast walk that the rest of our plugs had to trot often to keep up. A group of  five like that keeps the horses very motivated – they all have little contests between each other along the trail as to who’s going to get up front on this or that stretch of trail. 

            Next on Raffiq’s and Spice’s itinerary is the 4-day Death Valley ride December 28-31. It sounds as if the trail is going to be changed a good deal. I loved the usual DVE trail, but I also love the new areas we are rumored to be riding in. It’s just hard not to love riding in the desert. (In winter.)

Or, maybe it’s just hard not to love riding.

            Two more weeks of drought before I’m back in the saddle…