New Trail Riding Adventure's!

Last week, my sis and I hauled our horses down to my mom's barn to meet up with the relative's that have horses. We had a couple days of trail riding planned. The day we drove down was the hottest day ever in this part of the state. Where we were it reached a scorching 108 degrees with very high humidity. I have never been in temps this high before. We were miserable. Plus we had to get our horses settled in the barn they would be boarded at. They did well on the way down, but once we turned them out in the round pen and arena to stretch their legs, Brandy worked herself up to a nervous sweat. She was just dripping, so we had to go hose the horses down before they were put in their stalls. We weren't going to be riding that day. It was too hot, plus we were waiting for all the other family members to drift in with their horses.

By the end of the evening we had 3 more horses come in. 2 more were coming the next morning when we had a ride planned. We were going to start out on the trails that are behind my mom's boarding barn. We arrived around 6:15 a.m. Brandy was very happy to see me. We brought them out to tack them up for our ride. I had gone kayaking a few days before this trip and had injured my wrist/arm, it was very swollen and painful. I don't know if I had pulled a muscle, injured a tendon or if my tendonitis flared up really bad. All I know is I was down to limited use of my right hand, which made things difficult since I am right handed. I couldn't even saddle my own horse. I had to do everything with my left hand.



There were 9 of us that would be going on this ride. Once we were all ready we headed out on the trails. I didn't get a lot of pictures on these trails. Being in a strange area and not knowing how Brandy would react, made me keep my camara put away for most of the ride. Here we all stopped at the top of a hill to rest for a bit.



We rode for about 3 hours that morning. My mom had her first fall off her horse. Actually her first fall off a horse ever. She is ok and I am sure she will be posting about it soon. We were talking about going back out in the evening, but only a few ended up going back out. This is my Aunt Cowgirl J Lynn and my Aunt Desert Rose.



The next morning we all met back at the barn to trailer out to a State Forest where there are thousands of acres of riding trails. It was going to be another hot day. Here's Brandy at the trail head of the State Forest trail system.



This here is my Cuz K and her beautiful Palomino gelding Skylar. He is a very green trail horse and he followed Brandy on both rides we did. He felt very comfortable behind her, and Brandy found out she really likes Skylar and she now has another boyfriend.



When we first hit the trails at the State Forest, we had to cross a small river. All the horses went through fine, but Skylar did not like crossing the water, he hasn't done it before. So we had to wait while my Aunt Desert Rose and Cuz C went back across the river to get Skylar to go through the water. It didn't take too long to get him to go through.



The loop trail we went on took us through the woods and into clearcuts. There was a lot of switchback climbing and even a scary cliff we had to ride next too. I am terrified of heights and had a hard time with the cliff trail. I hope to never do that one again. I don't do well with heights at all. I could feel myself getting tense, and that is the last thing you want to do while riding Brandy, tense up, then she tenses up, she could spook and off the cliff we go. But she stayed calm and even though she had a tendency to walk a little too close to the edge of the trail, she didn't spook. Whew!





On the way back we had to go through the water again. Skylar decided again he didn't like the water. But Desert Rose was able to pony him through it. Below is my mom and Cuz C.



On the left is Cuz C's daughter M, she was just initiated into the Pony Cousins.



The horses were just dripping with sweat. So we headed back to the trail head. We took them to a campsite that had these cute corrals and tied them up.



We sat down at the picnic table to eat our lunch, let the horses cool down before putting them back into the horse trailers and driving back to the barn.



We had to hose all the horses off when we got back to the barn. The horses were a mess.



Brandy did so good out on the trails. I think she does so much better at trails away from home. I have told my family how crazy Brandy can get on the trails, and I swear they all think I am lying. She has never acted crazy on the trails when my family members are present. Her true colors haven't come out yet. I always say she has a Jekyll and Hyde personality. They just haven't seen her Hyde personality yet.



We had a really good time. It was very hot, but lots of fun. Our big Pony Cousins trip is coming up real quick and I will be ready. My horse is conditioned, she gets shoes on this week, now if only the wrist pain will go away, so I can start saddling my horse again, than I will be set.