Well, today we truly discovered why this is such a popular horse camp in the Midwest, why everyone always asks me if we’ve been here. One guy last week told me he could live at Brushy Creek! I’m not sure I’d go that far, but I can certainly see spending several weeks here. I got up just in time to finish making manure piles, because here at Brushy Creek, men actually come around with a skiff and shovels and pick up after you! Never had THAT before, at least not without having to first wheelbarrow it over to a central bin somewhere! Here they actually come looking for piles, though they missed one of mine, so I guess they’ll get it next week after we’re gone. Anyway, after brunch we saddled up, again with our new bitless bridles, and headed out of camp on the opposite trailhead from last week. At first we thought we might have to trailer them down to the Lake Trail near the north equine camp, since we had had so much rain yesterday we thought they would closed the non all-weather trails, but in fact, we were told they were open, so we left straight from camp. The first section was a bit slippery, particularly on a few rather steep grades, but before long the trail started drying out a bit, and there were many sections that were more out in the open that had had a chance to dry. We had some fantastic canters across several fields pretty early on, which the horses seemed to love! Apollo seems much more comfortable in his new bridle, his transitions were much more gentle and smooth. We took the SW River Loop, staying on the outer perimeter, and the majority of the trail followed along the curving river bed, with several places to stop and water the horses. It was so beautiful! The trees are just starting to turn, and the river was so peaceful, it made for some beautiful pictures today! We did a lot of trotting and cantering, whenever the trail wasn’t too slippery, so even though we covered over ten miles, it only took us less than 3 hours. Apollo was perfect until very near the end, when we ran into a couple of cowboys galloping across a field, then he did one quick rodeo (probably just to show off, though they were out of sight by then), but otherwise everything was just perfect. A gorgeous ride in a gorgeous place! Thanks, Iowa!
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