Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Determined to Ride

The weather has been just beautiful the last several days. I finally determined that I would take off from everything else I'd been doing and enjoy a ride while the weather was still nice. I finally got that accomplished Saturday. I got a much later start than I had planned and almost gave up before I even got started.

I arrived at the horses and proceeded to hook up the trailer. After not having pulled it in several weeks I had gotten a bit out of practice so it took a few attempts. Once I got hooked up I realized I needed air in the tires. That's the down side to having a trailer. The tires almost always need airing up unless you use it really regularly! Airing up tires requires plugging in the air compressor to pressure up the tank. Then there's the process of airing up tires and checking the pressure in each tire then airing some more until the desire PSI is reached. I was thinking to myself..."is this really worth it?"

Then I went to catch a horse....

They are smart and knew something was up when I hooked up the trailer. I walked to the fence and Diamond starts running all over the pasture. I just had to grin. Silly horse. Where are you going to go on 3 acres?! I paused for a moment to enjoy watching him run.

I then walk to the barn to grab a halter. After his little running spree, Diamond had ended up in a little catch pen off the main pasture. Not too smart on his part...he had no place to go! Even so he didn't give up easily! It's times like this I am extremely grateful for the 3 acres instead of 30!

I finally get him haltered, saddled and loaded in the trailer. I was headed to the State Park.

I get to the park only to have the attendant tell me the equestrian trails are closed for hunting. Really??!! Of course they are! She then went on to say "but you can ride the Rails to Trails".

I say "We here and he's saddled. It's not as much fun as the equestrian trails but I'm riding". Off to the parking area for the Rails to Trails I go. The trail is nice but it's the old railroad which is very straight! This is the trail leading from the park to the Rails to Trails.























From the parking lot there are several switchbacks leading to the Rails to Trails as the Park is on a hill.

As you can see it was very overcast that day. I enjoyed looking at the cloud formations.









There was one wooden bridge on the trail. I had not ridden Diamond across a bridge like this before and wasn't sure if he had ever done it. I suspect he hadn't and sure enough when we got to it he was not interested in crossing it. So we got to have a training session!

He refused to cross it while I was on him. I decided to get off and see if I could lead him across. The a little coaxing he let me lead him across. He was so funny. He so gingerly placed his feet one step at a time while I cheered him on! Once we got across we had a celebration! I fussed over him big time giving him all sorts of accolades and pats for trusting me to lead him over! I was one happy girl that it didn't take long to accomplish this task.

Normally I would have made him go across the bridge several times while we were there but I was short on daylight so I opted to keep going and see how we did on the way back.

Even though the trail was straight the ride was still beautiful.







Very peaceful...just the therapy I needed!
















I had hoped to ride to Garner, a small rural community that the Rails to Trails passes through. It's about 4 miles from the park. We didn't get that far before I turned around as I didn't want to finish my ride in the dark.

I thought these clouds were interesting.







These clouds show a hint of color from the setting sun hidden behind them.


We make it back to the bridge and may I just say how proud I was of Diamond! Although cautious he willingly went back across without hesitation while I rode! Yep, you guessed it. I fussed over him again! That tells me he's beginning to trust me!




We do make it back to the trailer before dark but barely! In fact it was dark by the time we got back to the barn.

Great ride Diamond! Thanks Buddy!






Have a good one!

2 comments:

  1. So glad you got a day to ride even though it sounds like it was a bit challenging and yeah I bet the railroad trail was not as interesting but still you got to ride and enjoy yourself!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sandy! It was challenging but worth it and still fun!

      Delete