Spring Pasture Move

Well, this week, I moved the horses from the Winter Pasture to the Spring Pasture. The day I moved them, it was a little windy and a combination of the sounds of the creek flowing, tarps that cover the gravel pile, and the flag blowing in the wind only got the attention of Orpheus. The rest just walked up the driveway like it was another day at the ranch. In fact, when I went to get the 4th of the six, the last two, Corrie and Goldstar, followed through the gates and walked along with Harmony and me. Corrie walked over onto the lawn area for just a moment while I opened the paddock gate, but walked right in once it was open. It was a good move to the spring area. There was a bit of snow still in the pasture for the first day and overnight, but the temperatures have been mild enough that the snowline has almost moved all the way down to the summer pasture fenceline already.

No other major activities have taken place yet this outdoor season. Still a little blustery out there today with a snowfall of about 0.7" overnight -- but now already totally melted.

I did start my outdoor running season with two 3-mile out-and-back jogs up the blacktop. It was nice to be running outside again after a couple of months of treadmill workouts. I officially entered Grandma's Marathon that takes place in June in Duluth, Minnesota. This will be my 36th marathon and it's probably the 20th time I've run Grandma's. (I'll need to check my marathon log to verify this). I am still favoring a swollen right ankle that had some tendonitis show up in it last June. Maybe it's a chronic thing I'll just have to deal with until a real fix is done.

I plan to be a little better about following up my running workouts with biking treks this training period. Last year, I did try to do a biking of the running route after getting back from the run a couple of times, so I'll probably expand on that this year. But, mostly, I need to expand the biking sessions a bit, since I only consider the training benefit of biking to be about 1/2 of a running workout.

Another activity I'll do more of this season is increased horse riding. Last year, I only started riding in August. So, now that everyone at the ranch is fit again, I'll probably do more in the near term rather than waiting until so far into the summer.

So, in any case, spring is almost here, and the outdoor activities are beginning.