OK, the weather still isn't great, but after spending all morning on housework, I decided I needed a good ride this afternoon. Friends were either occupied or staying holed up out of the gusting wind chill, so I determined that Riyah and I would go alone to the Roller Coaster hills.

Now before anyone has a chance to say I'm crazy for taking a green horse out alone, let me briefly explain that I do take a few precautions! My husband as well as my friend Sharon, who lives close to the R.C. hills and is very familiar with the trails, were advised of where I would ride and how long I would be out. I also carry "SPOT"--a personal satellite tracker that allows my husband to follow my location online. (It is attached to me and not my horse, just in case we part ways!) Of course I also carry my cell phone which does get a signal out there. So Riyah and I were pretty well covered from a technical point.

I understand the risks, but the fact of the matter is, I love to ride alone. I love to have that time with my horse. It's a glorious time. And it is vital that a good endurance horse be able to go out alone, of course,--you can't always have the security of a buddy at an endurance ride.

Now for the ride....Riyah was excellent! Yay! She could not possibly have done any better than she did for her level of training. It was easily her best solo ride yet. She did look at things: big rocks, gates, burned trees, and more big rocks, but she kept moving past them although in a somewhat body-arching fashion, I must admit! However, that is still progress---not so much trying to stop and stare like she's done in the past. There were people shooting at the shooting range, which we stayed well away from, but even the gunshots were a non-issue for her. (Marleen, I worked very hard on not letting my mental distractions distract her, and it worked!) This ride was more strenuous than our normal, with more trotting and more steep hills. I also had to dismount and open a BLM wire gate, which she handled well.

We did about 50/50 walk/trot through the Roller Coaster hills which are a series of fairly short (for Utah!) but quite steep hills. As soon as you hit the bottom of one, you immediately climb the next, and they are quite steep, did I mention that? A dirt road (four wheel drive required!) follows a fence line for a couple of miles; it's rocky but not too bad. A great conditioning workout for horses. (People too, if you were crazy enough to want to do it!) We continued another couple of miles into Spring Canyon, but we turned around before reaching the top. We had been out for just over an hour and wanted to get back to the trailer by the two hour mark.

Riyah doesn't have great aerobic fitness yet. She did huff and puff a little, but she seemed to recover quickly after we walked for a while. She has a good, ground covering walk, and a phenomenal mile-gobbling trot. I kept her to an easy, medium pace though, and she seemed happy and enthusiastic all the way. My GPS batteries died, but I'm guessing we rode eight miles.

It was super windy and cold, but I had several warm layers under my jacket, a fleece head warmer under my helmet, and an extra pair of gloves in my pocket. Gray skies and cold wind and even the drizzle that caught us the last half mile from the trailer could do nothing to dampen my spirits after that ride!

Next post--Riyah in the boots that shouldn't fit!