Rain, rain go away .. Summer's gotta stay

It was a beautiful morning, sun shining and thinking WOW, what a way to celebrate the end of summer. Last trail ride of August. Grabbed coffee and out the door. Saddled up and as we were heading out it started. Yep, rain. Good old fashioned wet stuff. Made a dash for the trees to get some cover and wait for friends. Sometime since yesterdays ride a tree fell across the trail. The way the horses eyeballed it you would of thought someone moved the furniture. Gave it a good long look, sniffed it and gingerly stepped over it. Guess that's the long term memory I was recently reading about :) Turns out it rained off and on so we never really got soaked just damp around the edges. Passed a few other hardy souls out catching the last moments of summer in the saddle. Rocket is my trusty trail alarm. If he says WHOA and won't go forward I had better listen cause there are folks a head blocking the way :) his hearing is great and he alerts me to them long before we can see them. The coyote from last week was at the meadow and we caught a glimpse of him and as we came out of the trail into a small meadow by the barn there was a young spotted fawn. He was so scared of us. We tried to give him time to find mama but the little guy just ran like a rabbit in front of us.. Finally got him to jump into the trees and scare the Rocket when he jumped into the air like a jack rabbit :) Okay, okay summer can be over but hey now it's time for a great NW Indian Summer

Excuse me, pardon me...

Was everybody out today? We hit the mother load on "other people" today. The parking lot was empty so we figured cool, we have the park to ourselves. Well think again. Just no horse people were there. Mountain bikers, walkers. joggers and to cap it off boys playing army! Hidden in the trees, faces covered and wearing camo. We got in the middle of their fun. They were very nice about it but we did explain that to a horse they resembled a bear or sasquatch/big foot.

The apples in the meadow were great and the horses were quite pleased to snag a few. :) Just to mix it up we went down some trials we usually go up. Rocket had to really pay attention in some places and pick his way down. Too many roots that created steep steps and the like. Yesterdays ride was an evening one, no excitement but one of my favorite summer sounds was heading back to the barn at dusk and hearing the crickets chirp. Now if I only had fireflies...

History assignment

When I was 16 and riding the same trails I ride now there was a little deer track that wound around a fence and through the brush. You could not get in too far and you knew you had crossed onto someones farm.. in the short distance was the most charming thing ... an old mill. Time was doing it's job to help decay the wood but the wheel was still there and you could hear the water. Just a special place in the woods.

Fast forward to now.... the land has been given to the park and I can now ride right up to it and really look. How cool is that??? The wood frame is gone but the stone walls are there and the wheel is mostly in one piece and you can still hear the water. Well, I have given myself a mission. I want to research it's history and share it here. As I find out I will update the blog :) I googled it and no luck. I am going to have to make the Rocket march right up the small path and get a picture of the brass plaque on the wall and start my search there with the only fact I know of. Wish me luck!

Just hot & nothing else

Last week was a hot one and the weekend no different. We had multiple days in a row of over 100. To try and get a jump on the day we headed into the park at 9am and it felt great. The horses did fine and we rode for 3 hours covering all the trails. When we came out it was HOT and it was all I could do to get the horses cooled off. I was thinking milkshake. We still had a horse to work so after a quick lunch we rode back out thinking the park would still be cooler. It did not take long to realize it was just feeling HOT, the kind of heat that presses on you. I was feeling the heat and I did have water with me but it just wasn't helping enough. We called the ride over and rode back out to the barn. We were far enough in that it took another half hour to get back to the barn. I turn beet red when overheated so while washing down the horse I just turned the hose on myself :) Big lesson learned .... I am going to make sure I have Smart Water along for these types of rides in the future.

Cooler by degrees

Gosh it's hot! Headed out for an evening trail ride hoping the brunt of the heat was over. My truck said it was 102 at 5pm!!!! The one great thing you can count on is it's always cooler in the trails. Met a friend and we headed out. Nice quiet evening. Only saw one trailer in the parking lot when we circled the berry field. Horses felt fresh but relaxed. The sun was coming down and boy you get the feel that summer is winding down. Just meandered along to not get the horses too hot but we never really felt the heat. To top it off we found two lonely 5's laying on the trail... Wooho.. Starbucks here I come. Once back at the barn I gave Rocket a much deserved cold shower. He looked grateful :) Next girls ride??? Sat early to beat the heat.

Thundering herd...almost

It was muggy and warm but on the trail it felt like air conditioning. A group of barn friends were heading out when we arrived so they arranged to meet us at the berry field. Quickly getting everybody tacked up...all 3 were going as my brother was coming too. We got underway and of course right off the bat Beca was afraid of a piece of plywood on the fence as we headed out to the trailhead. What is it about this piece of plywood? It has been in place for weeks and out of the blue most horses just get freaky about it. Not new looking it's rather dingy and it matches the wood fence it's nailed too in color... I just don't get it. You can bet we are going to make it the next apple eating friend tomorrow.

Back to the trail.. we met up with everyone at the berry field. We looked like a parade LOL! 6 riders and 7 horses & 3 dogs to guide. One group we passed in the trails wanted to know where the end of the line was :) As Centara and Nanse were out yesterday I think they were almost tired still but did a fine job of keeping up. Now Beca, a Morgan was a little more fresh and wanted to dance a little. My brother did fine. It can be so stressful when new people ride your horse. You know the horse will be good and be safe but that worry is aways there like if your child behaves badly in public :) When it came time to traverse a long wooden bridge Beca led the way like a pro and showed Centara it could be done. Amongst much laughter we had fun covering ground. Everyone got a workout. It felt like the official end of the weekend when saddles were put up, horses washed and fed. Okay...work tomorrow.

Summer rain

It rained early this morning and it was enough to really knock down the dust and the forest floor stayed damp. Not enough to make it very muddy but WOW, during the whole ride the trails were just full of great woody smells of damp earth, wood and foliage. We did the regular trek and rode for 2 and half hours. Normally we seldom pass anybody on the trail but today we met up with more people. Hikers, riders and one guy we kept passing. He must have been running the trails LOL! Out of habit I have led the way on our rides but the young mare needs to be the lead dog sometimes too. The decision was okay most of the time. There were a few discussions of nope I not going and yep you are :) and in the end she did great but I could sure tell she was a little put out on the last stretch home. The horses are getting routine down... they get back to the barn and stop by the truck, all ready me to get the heck off and take the tack off too while your at it :)

Hope the weather holds.. We are going out again tomorrow too!

Meet me at the raspberry field

What a beautiful Northwest day! I know fall is just around the corner and you can tell as the days are getting shorter and the mornings are getting that cooler feel. We saddled up around 10:3o am and headed out back... went through the scene of the crash... where hubby and his mare fell last month. I gotta remember to get a good rock to paint and stick on the hillside. It was my first time through there since the accident and wow.. not a good place to decide to go uphill when you were heading downhill. Anyway we had a great time. The weather was perfect. little bit of sunshine to break through the forest canopy but not hot. When we rode out of the park into the berry field it seemed like we ran into more friends. Must have spent half hour stopping and visiting :) We even met a young deer on the trail and the horses handled it so well. Rocket was surprised when it jumped to clear the brush to put some distance between it and us but other than that he just kept an eye on him and walked on.

Out in the barn

Sometimes life just gets in the way.... Company picnic is a must and all I can think about is how soon can we leave???? I gotta hit the trail. Daylights a waste'n! Plan is to do the picnic and then get home and saddle up. With 3 horses to work the day is not long enough.

Nanse aka "Rocket" is such a trail blazer. He hates to be the lead horse but does it grudgingly :) in the arena he is all business and about power and go!

Beca ~ Just wants to be a trail horse and not a show horse. That is just fine with me. I just love how she revs her motor when we ride. Such a talker, she announces herself by blowing just like a motor running LOL!

Centara aka Star is our baby. Now 4 years old this month she has hit one year under saddle. With such a fantastic personality we decided to "break" her ourselves and when we hit a rough spot off to the trainer she will go for spit and polish. With her trail experience so new she is doing fantastic. Willing to tackle tough trail spots ... okay, a few accidents have happened (she's a kid)but I could not be more pleased with how it's going.