Trail Ride

This weekend, we took a short trail ride. The horses that we ride are not your “typical” trail horses as they haven’t been ridden on the trail (possibly ever). Having the opportunity to help train the horses for the trail is something that I’ve been looking forward to. We started out in the early afternoon by tacking up and then moving the horses over to an outdoor arena. From the arena, we warmed the horses up a bit (just a few minutes of walking and trotting) and then went out to the trail. We decided on an order and then lined the horses up. The ride out, was nice and quiet; just a slow walk along the trail. It was a gorgeous day and we were just happy to be out and on horseback. When we got to the end of the trail, we turned around and started a slow trot back along the trail. All was going well until one of the horses spooked (just a little), but enough for his rider to lose his seat and came out of the saddle. The horse stopped with all the others, and his rider gathered him up and re-mounted. We tried to pick up a slow trot again, but the horses were all a little edgy now.  A few hops and a little dancing around, and we decided that the rest of the trail ride was to be done at a walk. The trail ride was over in about an hour and we had another hour of horseback riding under our belts. A nice way to spend an hour on a beautiful fall afternoon.

Thanks for Stopping by,

A short trip to Kentucky

We took a short trip to Kentucky last week to visit a college in the Lexington area. My son wanted to visit the same college that my daughter attends. This meant we got to see the college and our daughter – a 2fer (which is always nice).

While we were there, we got to go on a trail ride up to “the ridge” above the campus equine facility which also overlooked the Kentucky river. The trails were a bit messy due to some recent rain, but we thoroughly enjoyed ride. Gabe got to ride Sam, Sarah was on Flash, and I rode Clutch (a walking horse). I was particularly impressed with Gabe. Near the end of our ride, Sam spooked at a mountain bike that came by and Gabe handled Sam quite well and kept his seat. I was impressed as I believe this was only the second time that Gabe has ever ridden a horse. Sarah also got a bit of a spook horse because Flash saw Sam spook and decided that it was a good idea. Sarah didn’t have a problem handling Flash though and we quickly finished up our ride.

While at the college, we also had the opportunity to attend a horse clinic that was put on by Lew Sterrett (http://www.sermononthemount.org/). We watched as he demonstrated some techniques using his Palomino Quarter horse stud and a couple of other horses. He definitely has a way with horses and has a gift in teaching. We felt honored to be there.

Here is one of the photos fro our trip:

Thanks for visiting,