47 miles, drinking from a pipe and now a rest

Poptart is drinking from a mountain spring pipe on Judge Rye Rd

Poptart and I rode 47 miles this past week, WOW!  That was a a little unintended as I try for 20-30 miles per week, but I put in this weekend's riding a little early so Poptart can rest over the 4th of July holiday weekend while I visit family.  He did seem a little less forward at the end of today's ride, I think that may be due to 2 main things 1. he was tired 2. I may have trimmed his feet a touch too short.  Either way rest will do the trick.  Today we rode by ourselves and Poptart behaved very well, maybe riding a lot helps, LOL!  He felt more balanced, relaxed and engaged, easily trotting up the mountain on soft rein.  And best of all he drank out of the mountain spring pipe! That pipe and falling water jumped out to eat him this winter and caused a baby bolt down the mountain.  Today he was just thirsty and greatly appreciated the steady flow of fresh water.  Tomorrow he gets an osteopathic recheck to see if we are making progress on physical therapy to keep his pelvis from tilting forward and 'sticking'.  His pelvis needs to have normal motion so he can raise his lumbar span and 'coil his loin' so he can really use his hindquarter engine to push up those hills.  The saddle is working still and I feel like I am achieving a better 'connected riding' position.  I haven't fixed my girth problem, but he has not been sore on any of our training rides.  He is wearing the crupper in the field for a few hours at at time and I will try a new girth and different rigging when my new freeform saddle base arrives. We are planning on the 50 mile at Ride Between the Rivers, but have to work on hoof protection as my regular farrier (not trimmer) will be out of town all summer.  I will either have to use self-applied glue-on's or find a another farrier...  Have a Happy 4th of July!