Another wonderful ride with friends!

As some of you may know, last night was our little comeptition. Kelsey, Tif and I all decided that our horses were faster than each others. We shall let the Garmin decide.
Thursday we all decided to be at the barn at 1600 to ride. Once 1400 rolled around it was still like 97* and to just walk outside made you break in to a soaking death sweat. Of course the texts started flying. We re-scheduled for 1830, when the sun was on it's way down and you could walk outside and only sweat yourself HALF to death.
We started our ride trotting some hills, the horses seemed less competitive than the other day...it may have been the heat. When it came time to make the turn to our grassy "track" we all looked at each other and made the call to take advantage of the MP's being extra busy with a concert that was going on. See, in the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) it says we cannot ride in "common" areas. It specifically states the barracks, commissary and the PX. So we stayed a few...feet...from them lol. It also helps when your barn BFF knows all the MP's....
Anyway, so we make a left turn instead of a right. Let the fun begin!
First stop the baseball diamond...

Sorry Tif about the bra faux-pau

Then, we walk by some companies and you would have thought no one has seen a horse before. The boys were pretty good, no spooking, and they seemed pretty calm and relaxed. Of course, it helps when your rider is having a blast. Next stop was Church's Chicken....

Anyone hungry?

We came across all sorts of things. Caution tape, which Ben was not to thrilled with, sidewalks, huge signs, people yelling and honking horns, but in the end our boys were awesome. Nothing spooked them!
They did take an extra look at a squirrel that had a less than satisfactory tail, or bush as Kelsey put it. We continued on, making sure we did own the whole road, but not wanting to walk on the sidewalk. Soleil actually liked the sidewalk, so much though he kept pushing Olly back onto the grass if he happend to veer over. I guess even horsey BF's get possessive about somethings.
We went as far as the PX, not into the parking lot, but close. We didn't want to push our luck. The main road through Eustis is a divided highway looking road, even though the speed limit is 25mph. We crossed into the HUGE median of grass there. It was actually pretty good for cantering. The traffic is slow and cutrious and the horses were calm. This is where the picture taking took place.

The PX...thank you Kelsey for modeling the PX...

Tif chillin'

Yes, I'm the pirate, Tif's the prude, and Kelsey, well she's just Kelsey...

The most hilarious picture I have ever seen! Tif talking on her "hands-free" device. LMFAO!!!

After we played around, we started getting an audiance from the people that were waiting for a cab and decided it was time to head back. We were losing daylight. We booked it back to the grassy "track" along side the golf course to do our sprints. Since it was dusk, we thought it may not be best to push the boys to their fullest.

The results:
Kelsey and Ben (11yo appendix gelding, barrel racer) top speed 37mph.
Olly and I top speed 32mph
Tif and Soleil (4yo TB gelding, BN eventer) top speed 21mph, now at Tif's defense...Soleil decided to duck towards a telephone pole and that affected their top speed lol.
Group decision-give the horses two days rest and try again on Monday, while it is still daylight.
We made it back to the barn at 2100. The horses were sweaty but cooled enough. We hosed them, gave them some love and turned them out for the night. Another amazing ride with awesome friends. I can't wait to do it again on Monday!