First trail riding excursion

Laura riding WallyWe’re now about 6 months into our horse-ownership adventure and today we did our first real trail riding adventure with Wally and Cleo. We’ve been riding them in and around the pasture. We built a small trail through the woods for riding, and we’ve taken them around the neighborhood.  But today we went a bit further and took them down to Winkler road (the other neighborhood we’re now connected to) then down a private drive (only a minimal amount of trespassing there) and then along a power line easement all the way to Terry road.

The terrain was not too difficult, but there were a couple of steep hills and a couple of creeks to ford.  Wally plodded right through the creeks  – no problem. Cleo, however, was not going to climb through the muddy creeks, so she jumped them. Laura tried to get her to walk though the creeks, but knew that Cleo was likely to jump. So she was ready, and they did really well. One of the creeks was probably 4-5 feet wide (1.5 meters) so that was a pretty substantial jump. I’m glad that Wally did not try to jump the creeks, because I don’t think I would have been able to hang on.

Altogether we were riding for about 2 hours today, and that tired out the horses and the riders. It felt great, but now my butt hurts. And I know that tomorrow my legs will be sore. But it was fun, and I think the horses, too, enjoyed getting out of the pasture a bit and getting some exercise.

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