Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013 – First Ride at Southwood Conservation Area in Iowa (our 46th state!)


After a delightfully quiet night of good sleep and a late breakfast, we saddled up and headed out in the early afternoon for a fairly short ride. There are only about 5 miles of trails (though the ranger we met said they’ve added another one, so it’s a bit more now), they were more like bridle paths than trails to us. Other than a few stretches of sharp gravel, the trails were quite nice, wide, grassy or dirt most of the time. They weaved from open fields to dense forest, with a few steep climbs and descents, but really nice considering how “civilized” the place is. While most of the park is highly landscaped like a state park, the woods do provide a nice escape from that, and the fields gave us a great opportunity to get some good trotting and cantering in. A very nice ride, albeit relatively short, maybe 90 minutes or so. It’s a small park, but with a nice variety of terrain. After we got back, we decided we needed to do some chores, including washing the horse trailer and van, a long overdue job that we did over the waning hours of the afternoon. Eventually settled down to a quiet evening, having had quite the full day today!

Speak Your Mind

*