Between Androscoggin Lake and Wilson Pond

Linda's horse,  Gus

My friend Linda and I decided we'd  better get in a ride today as the rest of the week was sounding unsettled for weather. I had to work at L.L. today but not at Upper Pond Stable so we could get an earlier start. Linda has to put her grandchildren on the school but at 9:00 am so she came and picked me up a little after 9:30 am. Luke was happy to see is buddy Gus and hopped right into the trailer and they went right to bugging each other. Because the woods trails around are still not good to ride on with snow still in the shady spots and the frost not yet all out of the ground, we are limited to where we can ride here still. We headed off to ride in Winthrop where there are some dirt roads. We parked on the corner of Wilson Pond Rd and Hardscrabble Rd. The forecast was for 50+ degrees but it was cool and a bit breezy but nice and sunny. So, we kept our jackets on as we headed off up Hardscrabble Rd. This road runs between Androscoggin Lake and Wilson Pond. Several miles of Hardscrabble Rd. is dirt and there are multiple camp roads off this that go down to the lake that you can make some nice loops on. We don't ride here all that often. Only a few times a year on weekdays in early spring as the camp roads are all private roads. We have seen people in the camps and so far all have been friendly and did not seem to mind us riding there. But, it will just takes one crabby camp owner to ruin our nice early spring conditioning riding spot. 

Linda on Gus

Going up a very steep hill. You can't see how steep in the picture

We both expected the usually silliness from Gus and Luke that we usually get when the two of them are together and we both took our "silly gelding persuader sticks". Much to our delight though, they were both wonderful today. Luke too the lead right off and was forward and eager to so. Luke had just a couple sticky moments in the ride at some footing he was suspicious of but that was easily handled and presented no problems. Since I don't ride here often, I was not sure of my way to make the loops on the camp roads.  Sometimes I wasn't quite where I thought I was but remembered it as we went along. Right off we tried one of the snowmobile trails but it was quickly apparent that was not a good idea with the frost still coming out. So we stayed on the main road and camp roads. We did have one short section of trail through the woods that connects two camp roads. That section of trail was open and sunny enough that the footing was ok. There was some snow still and it was a little muddy in one small spot but easily managed.

We were surprised to see there is still a lot of ice on Androscoggin Lake. And the wind coming off the lake was cold making us grateful we had not left our coats behind. The camp roads were overall pretty good. There was a little snow still on some of them that are in shady areas but nothing that was a problem to ride on. And we passed a couple spots where run off water comes over some rocks and there were beautiful frozen waterfalls. I should have taken a picture of one. We were able to make all the loops and we were very happy about that. The last loop at the end takes us up a VERY steep and long hill. Luke motored up it wonderfully. Gus wanted to stop once for a breather but we were near the top and pushed on. Both boys were puffing when we got to the top. It's awesome to see how well Luke can handle a hill like this now. When I got him nearly a year ago, he was so out of shape that even small hills got him winded. There is more to this big guy than meets the eye. He has developed more strength and stamina than I ever expected he was capable of. I think he's got the making of a great CTR mule. I'm so looking forward to our first competition the first weekend of May.

Once we made the last loop on the camp roads, we headed straight down Hardscrabble road back to Linda's trailer. Once on the gravel section, we did some nice long sections of trotting and once nice long canter. Again, the boys were just SOOOOO good today. They cantered side by side quietly and calmly, neither one trying so suck back to let the other go first. It was just so much fun! And now that we were up off the lake sure and out of the wind, it was getting very warm and we were getting too warm in our winter jackets. But, it was the end of the ride so it didn't matter. It was the kind of ride that will keep us both smiling for days.