Archives for May 2012

  Headed out early today, as we had 16 miles on the Yellow Trail to do today. Managed to get out before 10:00, looking forward to a nice long ride, hopefully through some nice pristine forest. Unfortunately, large areas along the Yellow trail had been clear cut, so the feeling of riding in the wilderness were much less enjoyable than what we prefer. It was maybe 30% nice forest that we truly enjoyed, and the rest was pretty much clearcut, with a lot of clutter in and near the trails as a result. At one point, we lost the trail for a few minutes, because the cleared area overlapped the trail area so much we couldn’t find the markers. This was the first time we lost track of where we were, as the trails here have been stupendously marked up until now, with me hardly ever having to pull our the map. It made for a long day, and not quite as enjoyable as we had hoped, by as Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan both said, “No hour on the back of a horse is ever wasted!” On the final leg of the journey, we decided to cut back to camp on the White Trail, which would be the reverse of how we had taken the White trail before, rather than complete the Yellow trail, which we already did when we took the White trail earlier in the week (the White and Yellow combine at that point). It offered several opportunities to canter, and, unfortunately at one point, Hubby’s horse shied at a shadow behind a tree (her favorite pastime), and he took a spill, landing on his shoulder in a way that wrenched the muscles. Fortunately, we were less than a mile from camp, so as soon as we got back we started the usual regime of painkillers, cold, heat, cold, heat, etc. on him, while I took care of the horses. He still managed to feed the dogs and do a few of his usual chores, but he was in agony doing it, until finally we spend the rest of the evening in repose. We were planning on taking the day off from riding tomorrow anyway, to rest the horses after their long day, but now Hubby will need as much rest as they do!

   Woke up to tons of rain, starting early, before we got out of bed, and lasting until past 1:30 pm, then the sun burst out to make it a glorious afternoon and evening. In the morning, I ran out to my new spot to check my email, did some work, then returned. We had our ice cream lunch, then headed out for a short ride on the 5-mile Red Trail, which was truly lovely. Lots of older growth, dirt trails, a beautiful ride, though there was some evidence of recent clear cutting in a few small areas. Got back by 4:00, and settled down early for the evening.

 Woke up early even without the alarm this morning, though Hubby was a bit later than me. I had the horses fed and watered, their highline area mucked out, the dogs walked, and even took an extra walk down to the end of the horse camp just to see what it looked like before Hubby even got out of bed. There’s no one here but us, the place is empty, but there are a lot of signs this is a busy place. Sometimes we go to a horse camp and it doesn’t look like there’s been a horse in there for months, even years! But here, there was obviously a lot of activity over the weekend, at least a half dozen sites still had garbage in the trash cans scattered generously around the campground. After breakfast, we met the rec tech Ranger who was testing the water and doing other chores, then we saddled up and headed out on the White Trail, the shortest (just under 4 miles) just to give the horses a chance to stretch their legs. They were in the trailer a long time yesterday, so we didn’t want to wear them out too much today, and, weather permitting, we’re planning on taking them on a 16 mile trail tomorrow. Anyway, I had reconnoitered the area earlier when I had gone out to find a cell phone signal (the only drawback here), and we headed straight out the White Trail from the campground. The trails were VERY well marked, I never had to look at my trail map once, which always makes for a much more enjoyable experience (getting lost is always stressful), and the trail was marvelous! Lots of variety, deciduous mixed with an occasional pine forest area, good footing of mostly hard dirt, very few wet spots, even some great straightaways for fantastic canters! Couldn’t have asked for more! There were some stones on the trail occasionally, so we’ll likely put boots on the horses tomorrow just to be safe, but really, very few stony areas to bother a barefoot horse. What a great ride! And even though it was mid afternoon, the temps were quite nice in the forest, with plenty of shade to keep the heat from getting too bad. It only took us a little over an hour, but it was fantastic! When we got back, we spent a little time doing some hoof trimming (the warm weather really makes their fee grow fast), then we settled in for the rest of the day, though I took one more trip out to check my email, this time finding a signal much closer, thanks to the ranger’s suggestion about where to go. A lovely relaxing evening.

 Set the alarm for 5:15, so we could get out early, it’s a long day ahead of us. Managed to arrive at the dump by 6:30, out of the park by 7:00. Made a quick stop at the local Southern States to get horse feed, only to discover they don’t stock any, so we were out of luck. Headed up to Dothan where we stopped at a Flying J to refill a propane tank and have breakfast at Denny’s (we only make coffee before leaving), stopped once at a Tractor Supply along the way for oats and again at the only Walmart on the way for groceries. Dished up an ice cream cone for lunch before arriving at the ranger station in Heflin around 3:00 (would have been sooner, by once again, Verizon GPS took me to an old address, 7 miles in the wrong direction). Got directions and some trail maps as well as information about the availability of water, then headed out the extra 15 miles or so to the Warden Station Horse Camp. Despite postings on the National Forest website (and the many other postings that copied their info) that they can only accommodate “small RV’s”, there is PLENTY of room for large rigs here! In fact, with a paved road leading right up to the entrance of the campground, this is one of the BETTER parks for big rigs that we’ve seen! The only limitation here is that there are only 3 access points for water, one with a threaded faucet and the other two are the “tower” type, with a valve at the bottom and a long springy hose that stands about 10 feet tall, the kind usually seen at an RV dump. We filled up the RV with water, then Hubby decided the best chance he had at a satellite signal was a campsite just a stone’s throw away from the water spigot anyway, so we were settled in no time. High line posts were everywhere, and obviously saw a LOT of use, with a lot of leftover hay and muck, so much so that I decided to highline the horses between a couple of trees rather than on the highlines. We filled the water barrel and the horse trailer tank, got up the satellite dish, then settled in for the evening. Still warm, but MUCH cooler than Florida, and once the sun set, the temps really dropped to a very comfortable temperature for sleeping. Really looking forward to our first trail ride tomorrow!

Another hot one today, humidity especially bad because of possible thunderstorms later in the day (or vice versa), though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky when we left for our ride. Decided to take both trails together, just in reverse today, which still only amounts to about 5 miles or so, so it was pretty short, relatively speaking. Not surprisingly, horses were a bit reluctant, they hate taking the same trail twice, especially when it means having to pass the campground (and hay) along the way. Nevertheless, they were brilliant, and we had some great canters on the long, straight stretches, of which there are several. Once we got back, we spent a while putting everything away in preparation of our departure tomorrow. Looking forward to getting out of this heat! Storms started coming in around 4:00, we got the awning up while it was still dry, and everything else in by then. Started to cool down a bit after the rain, thank goodness, but still too hot here! Looking forward to heading north, real summer is out there waiting for us!!

Temps forecast to be in the low to mid-90’s today, got out by 10:30 to take a ride, just after a bit of fog burned off. Fortunately, the trail is shady so it was very pleasant. Only stayed out a little over an hour, beautiful trails here, just too darn short! Not to mentioned we did a LOT of cantering, Hubby’s just crazy about the canter these days. The horses are loving it too, and they are really starting to get redefined in the hindquarters because of it. We’ve managed to plan ahead for the next few weeks, hopefully all will go well and we’ll be able to make it happen as planned! No work scheduled until the end of June in New York State, so we’re just going to mosey along and hit as many states as we can, with a quick stop at home for annual doctors’ appointments for all.

  Set the alarm so that we could get a ride in before it got too hot today, still took us until nearly 10:00 before we managed to get out. Set out on the Blue Hole Trail, along the road then down the River Trail, looping back on the Sinkhole Trail. Beautiful trails here, good footing except for the occasional root, it’s great to be back in old cypress forests instead of straight, managed pines. Lots of gnarly old trees, green leaves, magnolias, it was gorgeous! The only problem here is that the trails are too short! We only went about three miles, but we took our time and enjoyed the woods, the shade kept it cooler that we thought. Got a nice little canter in across the final field to the campsite, let a couple of kids picnicking with their parents say hello to the horses before hooking them back up to their anchor so they graze on the nice green grass and clover next to the corrals for a while. After lunch, we headed out to the town of Marianna so that Hubby could get his blood test in (as suggested by the hospital in Orlando), then did some shopping at the new Tractor Supply in town, as well as the liquor store and a hardware store. Settled in for the evening, hoping for a good night’s sleep.

Got up early again with the ambition to ride before the heat of the day, but received an early email from our local client that his schedule had changed and he wouldn’t be able to meet with us later this week, so we started planning our departure for tomorrow. Then it occurred to us that it was early, and we could be packed in less than an hour, and we would have plenty of time to get out today if we wanted to move on, so that’s what we decided to do. On the road before 11:00, one stop at the Walmart in Marianna for fuel and food supplies, then into the park shortly after three, having gained an hour by moving into Central Time. As we’d been here before, setup was easier, and since they have corrals here, we didn’t even have to put up a highline. In fact, I put the horses out on their boat anchor for a while, as the clearing here was full of nice green grass and even some clover, which the horses devoured voraciously. Got them settled into their stall at dusk, and then settled ourselves for the night, not sure how long we’re going to be here, but enjoying the freedom and the moment that such quick decisions allow!