A Much Needed Ride

We had planned a trail ride for Sunday. We were supposed to go with my good friend/assistant trainer from the farm, M, but she ended up canceling. We decided we were going to go anyways. It was going to be the nicest day of the week, in the upper 60's and sunny. We hooked up the horse trailer, loaded up our tack and horses, then we were on our way to the trails.

We hadn't been on a trail ride since August, had it really been that long? Wow. Unfortunately, we don't get to do much riding in the fall and winter due to extremely wet weather we get in these parts. But this fall and winter were unseasonably warm and a little drier than normal.Circumstances somehow prevented us from hitting the trails any sooner. So we were really excited to finally getting out and doing some riding, somewhere other then home.

The trail head was packed as usual. We found a parking spot on the end, our long load barely fitting. We had to angle the truck in a way so our truck and trailer weren't hanging out into the roads. There aren't a lot of spaces that fit long loads (this is what I call a truck hauling at least a 3 horse trailer or bigger). I really wish they would add more parking. So many people pull in, see no parking then leave. I would hate to have that happen to us. At least we only live about 10 minutes away. We get saddled up then hit the trail. I wasn't concerned about Brandy. She can be so wishy washy on the trails, one day she can be a perfect angel, another day be a nightmare, but that is okay, she has come so far since I got her 5 1/2 years ago. Fritzy hadn't been out in a long time, so I was really hoping she would be good for my OH.



Last summer Brandy started having issues going down the hill to the stream, well, more like a small river. So I was really interested in how she was going to handle it this day. She actually made it further then usual before she didn't want to go forward anymore. She spun around, I spun her back, tapped her side with my crop. She walked a few steps forward. Good girl. Then she tried to spin around again, I spun her back, tapped her side with my crop and she walked down the rest of the way without a fuss. Yes! The last couple times it took around 10-15 minutes to get her down the hill to the stream. She has been through this stream at least a hundred times and never had an issue until last summer. So I am hoping that I can help her get over this "issue" she has been having.

We had just veered off a trail and headed up another trail when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. I let out a yelp. Goodness! I hate these things!! This one was at least 16" long. And not of the poisonous variety. We don't have any of those, but they still scare the living daylights out of me. This happened to be the only wildlife we saw on our ride. Lucky me.



We went to the bathrooms/hitching post area so we could eat our snacks.



We had just dismounted when a couple riders came into the area. I thought one of the guy's looked familiar. It was my horse shoer on his new Mule. We talked to him for a bit, then we ate our granola bars and Ritz cheese crackers. Other riders were doing the same, while letting their horses graze.



We noticed some new clearing while we were eating. So after we ate, I snapped a picture of the girls and my OH, we got back on and went to check out what all was being done with the new clearing.



Wow. They had taken out lots of trees. And in the distance we could see heavy equipment and what looked like more clearing. Oh, and sis, that little house of yours? The door was open halfway. I could see a table, mirror and some other junk in there. It is almost move in ready for you!



Nothing like big, scary monsters out on the trail.



There used to be a couple really fun trails right here. Not anymore. Kinda sad.



We figured Fritzy had about enough and decided to head back to the trail head. Fritzy is really out of shape and she was huffing and puffing. She was having a hard time keeping up with Brandy. I even asked my OH a couple times how he was going to keep up with me and Chance, once she is broke. I know Chance has a fast walk, and that poor Paint has no idea what she has in store for her in the future. We were on the road to the trail head when we see this:



Oh no! What happened to the bridge? I asked my OH to hold onto Brandy so I could walk down and check it out.



Well, so much for this way back. It looked like a big rig had driven over the bridge and it is now sagging. I was always a little worried about this bridge. I don't know why, it just seemed really old. Apparently it couldn't hold up to some weight, I mean a lot of weight.



So I headed back to the girls and we had to take the "scary" trail home. When I say "scary", it is only scary to Brandy. Out of all the trails out here, she hates this one the most. I actually try to avoid this one because the trail switchbacks and is narrow with a lot of steep drop offs. I don't know how many times Brandy has almost taken us down a drop off. But we went for it. Brandy handled it like an old pro this time. Thank you Brandy! I didn't have to see my life flash before my eyes!



Actually Brandy was nearly perfect the whole ride. The only issue being the water crossing, which wasn't that bad this time.



The bridge collapse added on about another 45 minutes to our ride. But that is okay. We were having a really good time, the horses were being good and the weather was perfect. What more could we ask for? It was a very much needed ride! So relaxing and enjoyable!



We were starving by the time we got home. I had to hose Fritzy off, she was soaking in sweat. Brandy hardly broke a sweat, thank goodness for the body clip! We put the girls away, ate some lunch, then went out and dragged the round pen. It looked so good, I decided to bring Chance out, groom her up and lunge her. She did well lunging. But we had some leading issues. She is still trying to run into me. So we spent some time on her respecting my space while leading and listening to me. Now I just need to get her out more and really work on that whole space issue.