Pony Cousin's Stampede, Part 1

Another year of our annual Pony Cousin's Stampede has gone by. It is very sad. All of us did not want to leave. I wish we could spend weeks together, since the short time we have together goes by so fast. We had a fantastic time. It was hot, hot, hot, but not quite as bad as the first year!

The first full day we were there, my mom, two of my aunts, one of our cousin's, my sister and I went for a long trail ride. They wanted to show us the ride to the river, where we could stop and eat our lunch. We weren't in a hurry because the others in our group would arrive later that evening.



We were riding, riding and riding and they couldn't quite find the trail that would take us to the river. They had only been on this trail one time, last year, so it wasn't an easy task. We decided to turn around and find a good place to stop and eat our lunch. There were a couple trails my aunt wanted to check out and they could be the ones that would take us to the river. Once we finished eating lunch, we headed back down the trail to see if we could find the river.



At times the dust became so thick that it felt like we were in the middle of a forest fire.



We took another trail that my aunt felt could be the right one to lead us to the river. It became quite intense in spots, some steep hills that go up and down, around falling logs and trees. My sister's horse had been a total brat on this ride. He seemed to get worse going up and down the hills. He would crow hop, buck and he even reared, which is not normal. I was terrified for my sister. I was already riding a horse that I have had some serious confidence issue's on, and seeing someone else's horse act up brought back some not so good memories. I was just hoping Fritzy and my sister's boy would keep it together.



Once we made it through the worst of the trails (some people might love what we were riding through, I prefer less difficult trails) it looked like we were heading in the right direction to find water.



The river at last! But we still had to navigate some rough terrain to get down there.



We did it. We got down to the river and rode our horses in to cool off.



I have crossed small streams before with Fritzy, but have never ridden her in a river. I was wondering how she would do. She loved it. She drank tons of water, looked around and was totally relaxed.



After letting the horses cool off, we headed back to the ranch. It ended up being about a 4 1/2 hour ride. Fritzy did really good, and even lead the ride at times. I was very proud of her.

The next day we went on a shorter ride. We included some of the other pony cousins that weren't there to ride the first day. We did a couple short trails, and had a photo shoot by the tepee's. Fritzy didn't want to get too close to them, so most of my pictures didn't turn out too well. Fritzy also lead half the way on this ride. We rode up and down hills, through a dry creek bed and along a cliff. I didn't do so well riding along the cliff, but Fritzy handled it really well. And she didn't even spook when a hawk flew right in front of her.



At this point in the trip, riding Fritzy on trails she has never been on, up and down steep hills, riding through a river, riding on a cliff and riding by tepee's, my confidence went through the roof. Everything was going so well....................until the arena.................. Stay tuned for part two.......