Joe drove me and Hugo up to Horse Heaven so I could do some trail ride conditioning. The loop is 8 1/2 miles with a 1100 foot elevation change.
Hugo is still barefoot. He has never had shoes even before we bought him. I am finding however, that he prefers to not trot on gravel. He has no problem walking on any surface but when I ask for a trot, he gets over on the edge as far as he can. The ride that I am aiming for is all sand, no rocks or gravel. So that’s good.
I also think he is a bit lazy. I had to do a lot of encouraging to keep up any kind of pace.
It was a beautiful day, low 70’s, light breeze, and he didn’t even sweat that much.
We finished in just under 2 hours. That pace doesn’t leave much room for error when we only have 6 hours to do 25 miles. But at least his pulse was within finishing limits as soon as I got him tied up and was able to check it.
That sounds like a good place for conditioning. Have you though of getting him a pair of front boots for the rough ground? I highly recommend Cavallo Trek boots. I ride barefoot too and any abrasive ground I like to put boots on Gussie's front feet. The Treks don't come off even in rivers or over big boulders.
ReplyDeleteThat photo of Hugo makes me thing he has a good dose of Morgan blood.
Very interesting info from Shirley's comment. Beautiful view
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