I didn’t have a lot of time Tuesday, due to Other Stuff, but managed a short work in hand for Tigger and a short ride for Rags. We worked over the walk poles, then went out in the Near Meadow and headed east past the construction yard to the highway, north along the curve of the highway, then cut wide of that for a bit and then went west, looking at regrowth on the burned area. Got up to the “bluebonnet corner” which is thick with tiny flat bluebonnet plants. By now they should be four inches taller and twice as wide, but…not enough rain. Still, some of them will flower. We cut the corner going back so I could look at some of the worst burned of the grassland…and it needs gentle rain and a bunch more seeds. I’ll get out there before the next rain with the seeds I have and get some more seed. It’s a lot easier to see from horseback where the barest areas are before you get there, and looking straight down it’s easy to see exactly what’s doing what. A lot of the mid-grass has survived and is coming up in tufts, and there are a good number of forbs, much more in some areas than others.
Rags behaved for this entire (15 minute?) ride and it was a lot of fun as well as letting me get a view of the entire burned area except the bits right on the fence. As he becomes more settled, I can spend more time observing…what’s blooming, what’s not, which grasses are looking good, areas that aren’t, etc. We went over walk poles again at the end of the ride. I didn’t ride on Wednesday–didn’t feel like it–so there’ll be a separate entry for Thursday’s ride sometime today (Thursday.) It was quite hot…because the wind was down, and the sun was BRIGHT and overhead. Rags was damp on his shoulder as well as under the saddle. We expect warming at least to the weekend.