Archives for January 2019

After a quiet morning, I managed to get Hubby up on Flash (though he was feeling a bit weak, I persuaded him to try it anyway), and he wanted to go as far down the Indiantown Grade to the west as possible, with an eye toward getting to Pratt-Whitney Road. We ended up getting about halfway there before he got too tired to continue, so we headed back. Flash was brilliant, staying at a nice walk the entire way, something I could be hard-pressed to do with him, as he usually insists on going faster. It's almost like he knows Hubby needs special care, and gives it to him. Apollo was sluggish, with more reluctance than usual, probably because brother Jeff tried to ride him last week and he resisted, and my brother wasn't able to get him going, so Apollo thought he got away with something, and he was trying the same thing with me. Of course, he didn't get away with it with me, but it made him crankier than usual, and we had a bit of a fight along the way until he finally settled down. Everybody got home in one piece, with Hubby feeling the workout, which is a good thing. Got the horses put away and settled down for the rest of the day, with showers and laundry on the menu!

My plan for today's ride was to try to find a more efficient way to do a loop to and through Riverbed Park, by finding the first crossover road or canal that would take me on the most direct route. By looking at Google Earth, it looked like there was a canal that might do it, but it's hard to say from the satellite pictures for sure. We headed straight east to the canal in our neighborhood, then took that due south until we hit Indiantown Road where we crossed the four lane highway. Fortunately, it's just before the road narrows to two lanes, so there's not usually too much traffic here. We crossed with no problems, then continued south along the road, which had an asphalt bike path as well as a grassy ditch that was wide enough to get us clear of the road with no problem. A few tenths of a mile down that road led us to the first canal, and we heading straight east from that point, mostly along the back yards of houses along the way. There was one yard with a blue tarp covering some things, and Flash got very antsy about passing it, so I had to back him up until we were past it, the only way I've been able to get him past things that freak him out. Fortunately he's very cooperative on his backing, even for the good 30 yards or so we had to go, then I turned him to face the front again just after we passed it, and he was fine. Funny the things that bother him! When we reached the end of the canal at Jupiter Farms Road, there was major construction at the intersection, including a huge shovel and bulldozer, and a large noisy generator. The bulldozer driver waved at me and got out of the way, and the shovel driver saw me and responded to my request to pass through the very narrow part of the road which they were mostly blocking. He put his shovel down and turned off the machine long enough to let us pass, and Flash moved through with just a bit of urging from me. We crossed the road and entered Riverbend, where Flash decided it was time to hop up to his fairly fast cordo gait, which he kept up the entire time we were in the park (about 4.5 miles) until about the last half mile, when he finally dropped back down to a walk, exiting through the tunnel under Indiantown Road.  We took a slight detour on what I guessed later was actually a hiking trail, but then rejoined the equestrian trail and headed back into Cypress Creek Trail again, which took us home in the usual way. A good ride, over three hours, and nearly 16.5 miles, in beautiful weather, which we've had a lot of lately!  Got home and did a little housework, then resumed our binge-watching of Downton Abbey for the evening.

After a leisurely start to the day, I saddled up Flash and headed out to the Hungryland WMA right behind the house. I haven't done too much exploring in there as the main trail seems to get overgrown sometimes, and I've never had the chance to look for a loop until now, so I decided today was the day! After reaching the canal crossover behind my brother's house, I found that the old barbed wire fence was gone, so we headed north on the canal, seeing a lot of other hoofprints so I know we weren't the only ones apparently trespassing. 🙂 We went as far as we could, then found another break in the fence leading to a trail that headed west, so we followed it, working our way north and west, trying to see how far we could get to a parking area on Pratt Whitney Road that always seems to have horse trailers in it. It hasn't rained in quite a while, so even the swamp and wetlands were pretty dry, allowing us safe passage almost anywhere. We followed the high ground along canals for most of the time, but eventually I was concerned we were getting too far north, and headed west, then southwest, in order to reach the road. Of course, there was a barbed wire fence all along the road, but I just kept following the tracks that swamp buggies had made, thinking that they must have had a way in, so it must provide a way out, right? Eventually I did find a break in the fence, and because I wasn't sure if I'd find another one between where I was and the entrance to the Jupiter-Indiantown Grade, I diverted to the swale along the road, which was plenty wide enough for safety. Just under a mile or so south along the road and we arrived at the parking area for the hiking entrance. We turned in, passed a few vehicles (don't know if they were hunters, environmentalists, or something else), but Flash, having gone mostly slowly for the duration at my request, decided it was time to pick things up, and he did his now famous cordo for the entire 3.25 miles from one end of the grade to the other, barely slowing down enough to get through the horse gate at the other end! I made him walk the mile home to cool him down, then, as usual, rinsed him off and set him free in the yard. Another great ride on this great horse! Only a bit over eleven miles, short by comparison to some other rides recently, but I don't want him to be tired of riding, or bored with the same trail, so it was a success as far as I was concerned. Did some housekeeping, then had a relaxing night.