Last weekend was only the third or fourth big organized trail ride I've taken Fox on. Originally I was going to haul out the 2.5hrs by myself and ride out with a friend who also has a super slow horse. At the last minute Superhub's schedule changed and I was just able to get his registration in .
Wicked early on Saturday I did the last minute things needed to get on the road, loaded the boys and off we went to the Amelia Springs Trail Ride, which I'd been trying to get to for a few years. I popped an audio book into the iPod, we gave the GPS fairy the address and we were away!
The trip out was fairly uneventful, though because I wasn't paying attention (I was trying to pay those horse extras fees and clinic fees by messaging Rodan and Fields clients about their current orders and talking to some other prospective clients about the capabilities of R+F), so we missed an exit and had to make a little detour. Superhubs was not amused by that one.
But we still arrived with plenty of time to get the horses settled, tacked and hit the trail. This was one of the longer trail rides I have been on, 16 miles, and that's because Superhubs and I took a short-cut after the lunch break. The scenery was great though, rolling, forested hills, challenging downgrades, water crossings (always exciting since Fox will Rolex Leap over all but the largest ones) and some hills that made my pony work his flabby butt.
It wasn't all sunlight and rainbows though. About half-way down the 16 miles of trail our little herd came across several riders stopped on the trail. Another rider's horse had spooked and thrown her and she was very obviously injured. It had happened no less than a minute before we arrived. Superhubs (who has prior to his stint at Lowes) been an EMT and a Paramedic threw me Cowboy's reins and went to see what help he could offer while the rest of us scrambled to get a cellphone signal and get help.
The woman ended up breaking her wrist and a portion of her hip bone. Help came fairly quickly considering we were in the middle of nowhere and she was swiftly stabilized and taken off to the hospital. Her horse(who had stayed right there the whole time) was walked to a site where a trailer could pick him up and taken back to camp. Superhubs and I continued our trail ride just the two of us our friend having stayed with the now riderless horse.
It was a long, long ride back that didn't seem to end. At one point Cowboy, usually the leader, had had enough of being in front and Fox promptly and I think motivated by getting home quicker, took the lead and brought us the rest of the way in up and down some truly steep and scary hills.
The photo above is of Fox just after his bath, contentedly munching hay and posing in the fading sun just before Superhubs and I went to eat dinner with the other trail riders. A dinner I might add that served Moonshine and Margaritas! Definitely a plus in my book.
Later we loaded up, at which point I lost my house/trailer/gate key and I still can't find them, and drove the long way home. We arrived somewhere around midnight to Seneca's happy cries to have her two minions back. The best part of the day? When I went to feed, after the boys had settled in from the trailer ride, what I assumed would be one tired pony Fox strut trotted up to his feed pan. Seriously? An almost 3 hour ride to get to Amelia, 16 miles of up and down trails, walking and trotting the whole way, 3 hours back and you STILL have energy to trot up to the feed bucket? Love my horse!
Keep it between the flags everyone!
