Wednesday Wanders at Watermelon Pond

I tried to drum up a friend to go with, but horses, trailers, and work schedules being what they are, Butterball and I ended up solo at Watermelon Pond on Wednesday. I really dislike trotting laps to do a 20 minute trot set, so my goal was a bit over an hour walk and then 20 minutes trot and 3x3 minutes canter. I've been to Watermelon Pond quite a few times (Yoshi trip, Ben trip, Goggles trip). But each of those trips had something in common: Ms. GY. 

Butterball got off the trailer calmly and pleasantly. He did a bit of a dance when a hiker walked up, but overall was pretty settled. 

This is new! 

"You seem to have tied me so that I can't reach the grass.... WHY??"

Headed down into the pretty woods. Pony was fairly high headed at this point.

Back in the sun, open fields to our left 

Such a beautiful day 

Shallow pond 

Then some speckled woods 

Open fields

Then we picked up the trot and did a 20 minute trot and then our canter sets. I practiced the galloping position from Naked Horse and it felt pretty stable most of the time. He did a few sideways canters, presumably when we got close to deer or hogs. I made a few turns during our trot and canter, generally trying to loop back towards the east and the parking area. And I was thrilled when it looked like we were headed straight at the exit as I finished the last canter. But... we weren't....

We finished up at the purple X and I was parked at the red X. Hrmmmm. I mapped it as the crow flies once I got home and it was two miles. But I had a bit of an internal panic as I figured out that I was close to the other parking area that is quite a few miles further of a drive. Rather than trying to find trails to head home, we just followed the perimeter fence back (other than cutting off that little corner at the very top left). ATVs drive on that fairly often, so it was pretty deep in a few spots, but a lot of it was still really nice. 

Since we were walking now, I let him stop to watch the herd of deer that were in the woods and were reacting to our presence

There were goats in the field. He was alert but okay with those. But he was NOT okay when three LGD came RUNNING up to the fence barking. It was the only sketch moment of the whole trip because he backed off the trail and was going a bit sideways through the field that had gopher tortoise holes and other sketchy things. Fortunately I got him stopped and then he regrouped. Completely fair my friend, three wolf like things bolting at you is pretty concerning. 

The rest of our perimeter walk home was pretty relaxed

And he started trying to snack

THIS is what the view to the exit should look like 

Proving what a GOOD BOY he is, this entrance made him spook pretty hard on the way in. But after a little coaxing we went through it. On the way back out, he was totally solid through it with no worries. 

Enjoying snacks after getting sponged off

Garmin view of our ride. I forgot to turn it on right at the start, obviously. Total distance from it was 6.71 miles in 1:18 with an average speed of 5.1 mph, 48 feet of ascent.