I decided to trailer over to West Bowdoin. The trails are nice there and you can really move right along. What I didn't know is if the trails would be dry yet with all the frost out. Only one way to find out. This morning when I fed, Luke was absolutely filthy! Wet and muddy. I was thinking I'd have to just hose him down today though it wasn't really as warm out as I'd like if I was going to do that. When I went out to get him, he was still absolutely filthy but he was dry. So, it just took some elbow grease and the shopvac to get him presentable. Today Luke even let me vacuum around his ears.
I loaded Luke up and we made the short drive to the West Rd. and the pipe line where we park. When Luke first got off the trailer, he looked around to see if any of his riding buddies were here but when he saw we were alone he was quiet and just munched hay while I tacked him up. Luke was still quiet when I mounted up but as soon as we hit the trail, he was eager to go. Right off we had a tree down on the trail that we couldn't go around, under or over! Darn! We had to take the steep path down into the sand pit. The footing is fine, it's just quite steep but Luke handled it easily. There was a lot of water at the first stream crossing but Luke didn't hesitate and went right in, took a nice long drink and then waded right through. Then right off we came across a smashed up old couch sitting in the middle of the trail. Now this I would have thought would have been a real mule eating monster. But, no, Luke only gave it a casual glance as he walked around it. Go figure....... We passed multiple pieces of furniture dumped along the trail much to my disgust. Luke was not concerned about any of it though he did sniff a folding chair laying in a stream.
The trails were in pretty good shape. The frost is almost all out now. But, I did have to ride slower then I'd hoped to as they have been logging here recently. So, with the skidder tracks and the rain we had last night, the trails were just a little too slick for fast work though they were in good shape overall. Thankfully, not much of a mess has been made from the logging. We did all the loops off to the left side of the pipe line. I spooked once as we had a partridge fly up beside us. Luke didn't bat an eye at it but I nearly jumped out of the saddle! With each loop we completed and I turned away from the trailer, Luke never once offered any fuss and eagerly headed off in our new direction. We crossed the pipe line and rode the trails on the right side. I went exploring down a trail I didn't know and it were here that Luke did do a full fledged 180 degree spin when he spotted a bit of metal roofing laying in the woods. He caught me off guard so we were facing the opposite direction and he had done a tiny little dance in place before I even knew what happened. But, he'd done it so smoothly that I never even wobbled in the saddle and he made no attempt to go anywhere so it was no problem. I turned him back around and he quietly continued down the trail. This trail didn't end up going anywhere so we had to turn and go back to the main trail. We looped back to the pipe line, rode down that and went right out through another gravel pit and out to the Witch's House trail. We went right here and rode out to the West Rd.
I called Fred when I got out to the West Rd. as I could easily go straight across and take the Wheeler Hill Rd. trail and ride home. And Fred could just dive me back to get my truck and trailer. Unfortunately, he was not home so we headed down the West Rd. Luke knew which direction was home and this was the only place he fussed about the direction we went. All he did was sulk and drag his feet a bit for about a 1/2 mile and then he got over it. We went back onto the trails and finished up with another nice loop getting in some good trotting back to the pipe line and rode the pipe line back to the trailer. Luke was just the best boy you could want. He's such a great trail partner. Steady, sane and willing even when out alone.
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