Archives for 2011

Slept late, then after breakfast saddled up and started following the trail that was the route to be used for the competition tomorrow. We were under the impression that each of the obstacles had already been put in place, but in reality we only found one, a tarp on the ground at stop 3. We also thought it was a linear trail (every map we had indicated it was a linear trail), but in fact they had made a loop by following the fenceline. Because we missed it (it was poorly marked), we didn’t see what the last three obstacles were (there are six total, apparently). We’re still hoping we’ll be able to observe tomorrow, but it’s beginning to look like we won’t be able to. Anyway, the trails were lovely, passing through some beautiful huge live oak with moss hanging down, typical old Florida terrain, lots of palm trees, and even a few cactus (which I thought we left behind in Texas! 🙂 Trails were sand and grass, with some great straight-aways for some trotting and cantering, something we’re really doing a lot of these days. We followed the trail north until we reached a four-way intersection. We went straight at first, and in about ¾ miles, we came to the end of the trail, at a gate on a busy road. We turned around and came back to the intersection, and turned south. After about a half mile there was a fork, but no trail markers, so rather than risk getting lost, and still believing all the horse trails were linear, we headed back. Had we kept going, apparently, we would have made the loop, but once again, bad maps that don’t match bad markings ruled the day. Disappointing, but at least we learned about it later so we can take it again on our next ride. There is also a trail that goes south out of the campground, but it seems to be mostly in the open, and the sun is a bit too hot (at least, in the afternooon, which is when we’ve been taking our rides lately), so I don’t think we’ll be taking that on. By the time we got back from our ride, several more campers had started coming in, so we had a few conversations with some of them. It seems most of them are newbies, we only met a few folks that had been to an event like this before. In the evening, we thought there would be a big bonfire and everyone would gather, but there was a small bonfire and only a few people gathered, mostly folks just stayed near their own campsites. Again, a bit disappointing, we had hoped to develop some camaraderie, but that didn’t happen either. Oh well. Maybe things will improve tomorrow! The ride was nice, at least.

Got up early enough to walk over to the “riders meeting”, which turned out to not be a meeting at all, at least not one that indicated any signs of organization. The organizer didn’t start on time, and after 15 minutes of waiting, she started out apologizing, saying that she was waiting for the judges to “get in position” before conducting the meeting. Of course, as she started speaking to a few people, others stepped in to try to hear what she was saying, and started asking questions, so she started (I guess you could call it that) to start the meeting. Unfortunately, she was hard to hear, and after about five minutes someone finally handed here a microphone, which she didn’t know how to use so it didn’t help much. It seemed very impromptu and worse, amateur, and I ended up walking away shaking my head at the audacity of someone charging $58 to participate in such a shoddily-run event. I may check out another one to see if it’s just the organizer or if they are all like this. I don’t see it as being worth the money or effort. The “breakfast” was coffee and iced tea and one chafing dish of some kind of burrito mix, period. I didn’t bother to go back to see what lunch was like, because there was no set time for that either and I wasn’t about to hang out all day just to confirm what I already knew. Most everyone had packed up and left by late afternoon, pretty much leaving us on our own again, with only a few folks remaining. Anyway, spent the rest of the day doing some computer work and watching TV, planning on riding again tomorrow.

Hubby spent the day doing a few chores, while I ran back in to town to pick up the mail, which arrived this morning, get gas and do some grocery shopping in Sebring, which is about 15 miles away. Temps are good and warm now, in the low 80’s for the most part. People here seem to be pretty nice, lots of older folks (no surprise there), and many seem to be ex-military, which always seems to lend itself to a nicer, more friendly atmosphere. Surprisingly, not that many people showed up today, we thought there might be a few early birds. The only challenge here is that water is a hand pump (which they just replaced for a new one), so water has to be carried to the barn about 20 yards away. Other than that, since we filled up with water before coming here, this is a really nice place. Looking forward to our ride tomorrow!

Extended our stay here through Wednesday, happy with the accommodations and the trails. Spent the rest of the day running errands and working on the computer, getting caught up on some work and resting from our long ride yesterday.

Warmer temps prevailed today, so we saddled up and headed out on the trail, map in hand. It didn’t help much, though. This is another case of the map not matching the trails, and the trails not being marked well enough to follow them even if they were. The roads, which crisscrossed the trails (which were also roads, just less used), weren’t on the map at all either. None of the usual landmarks were marked, like lakes and buildings and primitive camping areas, so that was of no use. Despite the challenges, we managed to follow enough of the green trail toward the Wekiwa River to approximate where we were. We finally found something that’s marked on the map as a horse watering trough, which in fact was simply a marsh next to the trail with a sign where you could give your horse a drink. According to the map, the river should have been nearby, but by that time we had been riding over two hours and didn’t really want to go much further, so we turned around and headed back, trying to find a loop that would get us back. We finally did manage to end up in the field where the Deere equipment was, and made our way back to the camp. Despite the challenges created by the poor map (which we’re getting all too used to!), the trails/roads themselves were pretty good. Some were through old growth live oaks and swampland (though the trails were dry) and others were through much more open spaces with lots of squash palms and the occasional Royal palm mixed in. The footing was mostly good, firmly packed dirt and sand, with only a few areas where the sand was deep enough to be a minor problem, so we got lots of trots and canters in. A wonderful ride, though a bit longer than we had intended, but the horses didn’t seem to mind. They’re getting fabulously fit again, strong and full of muscles, with lots of definition, and their stamina in super now. We just have to keep it up so they don’t get soft again! Had a relaxing evening, well satisfied at our beautiful day!

Spent the day recovering from yesterday’s excitement and doing some computer work, figuring we would ride tomorrow when the weather would be warmer. Today was rather chilly, with a strong north wind dropping the temps into the forties, and since we prefer to be fair weather riders, we held off until tomorrow. A simple relaxed evening.

One of the things we love most about being on the road is, if you decide you can’t get along with your neighbors, you can just move on, which is what we ended up doing today. It all started late last night. At about 9:00, one of the dogs came to us and asked to go out, so, being in an campground with just one other camper on the far side of the campground (and who had made friends with our two dogs within five minutes of our arrival on Tuesday), we simply opened the door and let them both out. Their habit is to simply explore for a few minutes, go off into the woods to do their business (which they’ve been specifically trained to do), then return shortly. The only time they might be delayed is if there is a very social environment, and they, especially little Billy (who is a social butterfly) might go visiting if people are sitting around a campfire. To date, this has never been a problem anywhere we go, and in fact, most are quite happy to befriend our cute little guy. Of course, we don’t do this if we are near a busy road or urban environment, or if there is a large crowd in an area where dogs must be leashed at all times. In other words, we use common sense to insure no one is unnecessarily bothered by our dogs. Well, moments after letting the dogs out, a car pulled into the campground (remember, this is 9:00 at night). Of course, the dogs doing their job, started barking at the new strangers. I immediately called in our big and obedient dog Marina, but Billy wouldn’t come in, so I put on a coat to go get him in. It turned out the newcomers were, in fact, our absentee camp hosts, who had not been here all week, but, judging from the dirt on their RV, had been in situ for some time. I called out, apologizing, gathering up Billy and heading back to our RV. From behind me, a male voice called out, “You have to put your dogs on a leash.” I responded, “Even in the middle of the night?” He answered, “Yes.”, I replied, “That’s disappointing,” and kept going. It should have ended there, but he persisted. “Ma’am, we have a dog and we have to put him on a leash, and so do you.” Just the way he said it made me bristle, involuntarily, and I answered, “I GOT it,” and I headed back in. I repeated the “conversation” to Hubby, and he said, “Well, that’s it, we leave tomorrow.” So I got back on the computer to find what options we had. We ended up not getting to bed until almost midnight because our adrenaline had hitched up a notch. Anyway, this morning, I made a few phone calls, disappointed that our first choice, Lake Louisa, flat out didn’t allow dogs at the horse camp (allowed at the family campground, but not the horse campground – go figure), we considered Ocala NF, which was free but had no facilities, and finally settled on Rock Springs Preserve next to Wekiwa State Park just north of Orlando. It has a barn and water for the horses, an extensive trail system that is shared with a riding ranch concessionaire in the same campground location. An easy 2-hour drive, we stopped for breakfast, the later to dump at a Petro (but didn’t get fuel there because their prices were so high), then picked up gas near Wildwood before heading out to the camp. Arrived around 2:00, discovered a water spigot with potable water we used to fill up the RV, parked next to the barn, and got settled in in no time. Our new backyard is beautiful, with a number of live oak trees with delightful hanging moss, and even though it’s quite chilly from a strong north breeze, we’re looking forward to a great ride tomorrow. Interestingly, scattered around the fields around us are numerous large John Deere tractors and farm equipment. At first we thought maybe they were having some kind of equipment convention here this weekend, but a little research discovered that the local John Deere dealer apparently leases out much of the area as a demonstration area for their potential customers. The odd things one learns while traveling like this! We saw a number of vehicles moving around the fields, so I guess some folks were test driving! Anyway, we settled in for the evening, delighted with our new digs, and the memory of our last human encounter quickly fading, thank goodness.