As usual, I rode this morning

When I left at 5:15, it was totally dark. Someone asked me how I can ride in the dark... isn't it dangerous? Can people see me?

I do make sure to wear a white shirt so I'll show up in headlights, since my horse is a big brown blob in the dark. But the busiest road I ride alongside isn't that busy, and most every car is leaving my little town and going to work early in the morning. So I simply ride on the off side. The one exception is the mail truck, which can be counted on to come rattle-banging along between 5:45 and 6 A.M. I can usually hear a car coming quite a way off, and I have plenty of time to cross over to the other side if I think it's necessary. Oh, and on Saturday I don't encounter more that one or two cars.

Anyway, I rode to the square of my town and went south, heading toward an outer road with a long history of horse travel:


No matter when I ride this road, I don't encounter much traffic. If it were later in the day, the mailman would pass or meet me several times, and a tractor might pass by. There's one major problem on this ride, and that's a lack of brush and bushes behind which to hide when I need a potty break. See, right alongside Old Santa Fe Trail Road is a fairly busy US highway. So some sort of blind is needed. And this morning I realized I had indulged in one too many cups of coffee.


I ride the gravel road on the left; on the right is the US highway.


Luckily, Blue and I found a cornfield (much to his delight). I had to break my usual rule of never going into any farmer's field when there are crops growing, though. When you gotta go, you gotta go.




See how well hidden Blue and I were? He loves corn, so he accommodated me.

When I got us out of the corn maze, the sun was coming up over Blue's shoulder.
He's a very tall horse and I have bad knees; so I always make sure to stop where there's a bank like this. I get on the uphill side and I don't have so far to pull myself onto him.

After I got home and rinsed Blue off, I remembered that I was supposed to feed the horses that are boarded here, since Jessica and Adam are out of town for the weekend. Tude has arthritis in one leg, even though he's only eight years old. So he gets three supplements for that.

Sassy and Tude both receive electrolytes mixed in their feed. Jessica offered to let me give some to my horses, but I honestly don't feel it's necessary.

That's how I started my day. I was sweating already when I left the house, and it only got hotter. Maybe I could use some electrolytes!