Pay Off

Yesterday, Pepper came right over to me when I arrived with her halter. I didn't even have to call her. She did a little work in the roundpen and was pretty bucky. I don't know for sure if this is due to being in better condition of if she has something going on. From looking at her, her hindquarters are better developed than I have seen them before.

Then I drove her and she was very good. We didn't go far, but the hill is so steep. I have resigned myself to going just this far through the end of January. Just like for me, walking up my driveway from the barn two or three times a day has resulted in an easier time doing it over the course of the year without having to gradually add more hill work of greater speed. Its a really hard hill. Really.

I'm looking at Google maps to try to figure out feet in elevation over the distance we drove.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Pepper.

PS The distance we traveled is about 8/10 mile round trip with a difference in elevation of about 186 feet. I told Pepper to pretend she was a pit pony. So you can see why I am conditioning slowly. My road predates automobiles, so it has been done by horse and carriage before.