Sunrays and Wind

We didn’t want to turn lazing around into an art form(as if Steve would ever let me get away with that!), so we were back into activities again today. We took horses and Daisy up to the trailhead off the Paradise Park road just past the forest service boundary. Because of rain yesterday, the trails were wet, so we used the unpaved Paradise Park road instead of a trail. No traffic to speak of. We passed one truck coming up as we were going back down. The weather held out in spite of dire NOAA predictions. The wind did pick up considerably in the afternoon, however, which urged us to opt for a “shortcut” (maybe only 20% longer?) through the aspens back to the trailer. We both wore our Aussie dusters and stayed warm enough at about 50 degrees and windy. We trotted most of the way up, gaining about 1400 feet, 8 miles, in 2 hours and fifteen minutes.
We rode the horses without boots. Steve has been reading about healthy Mustang hooves, and we’re seeing if our horses hoof shapes will change with more barefoot riding. Unfortunately, both horses seemed pretty footsore, especially on the way down. The road was mostly soft due to muddy conditions, but there were quite a few rocks. I think next time I’m using my Easy boot Bares. An occasional totally barefoot day is probably a good thing, though. Their feet will be tougher, which could save the day if we lost a boot unexpectedly.
The yellow Sunrays were out in force at the trailhead. No lupines up that high yet.