Time for the trails!

This weekend was our first show of the season. I opted not to take a horse and had Chase ride Sis since he really hasn’t worked Abby too much this year. MIL and Chase both did well. Sis wasn’t at her peak performance wise but that is another post.

At the end of the show I had two tired “puppies”.



After the show DH and I headed off to the trails to celebrate our 11th anniversary. We both chuckled as we set up “camp” for the night. It was a bit different compared to how it was 11 years ago when we first set out for our honeymoon. Back then we had a 2 person tent and it was so cold I slept in the truck w/the heater (running with the heater on) while he slept in the tent with the dog. This time we both slept in the well circulated trailer & left the dog at home.

In the morning we got up and fed the ponies their breakfast only to find Lu had decided to unsnap herself and help herself to some grass. The “neighbors” came over to let us know that the one horse (Sis) beat up the other horse all night. This isn’t the first time Sis has done this and she’s going to learn quickly what a set of sideline hobbles are for. I refuse to give her an entire hitching rail just because she’s crabby.

We were on the trail by roughly 9:00. DH rode Sis and I rode Lu. I was a bit surprised at how “energetic” Lu was at the beginning. Usually she’s the calm one. We weren’t 20 feet into the trail head before we hit our first hill. It was a fairly steep one so I was happy when Lu sucked back and went down slowly, step by step.

Here she is at the beginning. Ears perked forward and ready to go.


The weather was beautiful but the bugs were horrendous! As we got closer to the river you could feel the cool breeze coming off of it. Lu is not a fan of water so I chuckled when we had lots of small water crossings. That was until we got to this one.

Lu says: “You want me to cross what?”



Here she is trying to turn around and go back.



DH and Sis taking a break while checking out the best place to cross.



The top crossing was very rocky and it was hard to navigate so we opted to go through the bottom. It got deep enough to have water up to my shins. Man that is the best way to ride!

After the ride and back at camp. This was pre-bath. Lucy got a wet saddle blanket.



After a sponge bath – “Can I haz treats?”




Just chillin



We headed back home in the afternoon but had to swing by a tack store on the way home. I bought another Cashel Feed Rite Bag. Those are wonderful out on the trail or for a messy eater (like Lu). We also purchased a new Stacy Westfall activity ball for the horses.



I’m hoping this will be something fun for the kids to play with and something to help me challenge my training (is the horse listening to me or focusing too much on the object?).