Got the team out for a warm up trail run to make sure they were all ready for our musher get together out in Nenana tomorrow. I also wanted to make sure they were back to breaking trail since they have had so much time off by running at the lakes or doing short easy trail rides.The snowmachiners have not gotten to a lot of the main trails so there was plenty to work through. The team had a great time of battling heavy snow to a marginally groomed trail, to more heavy snow, then back on a better section. It was great to have them on and off like that. The diversity helps keep their mind on target and they don't get bummed out if they have to break trail for miles on end.
Since the sun was so great I tried out our bigger nicer camera and came home with quite a few shots. Unfortunately we weren't doing anything really exciting so most of what I took were at break time when I gave everyone their frozen chicken treats and let them relax for a bit so they wouldn't get too overheated.
The temperature today wasn't too bad, it stayed between 10 and 15 above, but the sun was intense! Perfect for pictures but the dogs can get overheated very quickly, especially the darker ones.
Thani didn't want to rest much and Ive had to get on him so he can slow down a bit and relax more. He is such a hard worker and his youngster exuberance gets him into trouble. He and Boreas will be taking over the wheel position for a while and bump up Hera and Remus to team.
Juno was fired from her leader position today when Ichabod (the dog who isn't affected by anything) slowed down so much that he was tripping up the swing dogs. My concern was an injury but as soon as I took Juno out and put Hermes as his partner the two lined back out and did great.Juno has been a fantastic leader but she takes her frustration out on her partner. I'm not sure why this is, shes not hurting them in any way, but her barks and mouthing wears the other dog down. Hermes would drop back away from her and Reba decided a long time ago that she didn't want to put up with that. I thought the only dog I could pair her with would be Ichabod but after he quit today that was enough.
She can still run single lead, loose lead, knows her commands and works very hard but I cant put her up front with a partner any more. In swing shes fine, quiet and works well but in lead she reverts to a Napoleon complex!
On this trip I was able to confirm that Hermes definitely knows his gee and haw. He even corrected Ichabod a few times! These two might be our main leaders for a while... I will run them up front on our run tomorrow and see how it goes...
Total Miles: 13
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