Archives for 2012

  Though my hearing is still not great, we felt good enough to take a ride today. After a leisurely breakfast, we saddled up and got out around 1:00 or so, following the East side trail map, though it turned out to almost not be necessary. The trails were very well-marked, with “You Are Here” placards at most intersections. The map was useful inasmuch it had a legend of trails that were not recommended or forbidden for horses, and that was helpful. We wanted to keep it simple anyway, so we stuck to the snowmobile trails, which were the widest and best marked. The footing was a bit rocky, but we had put their boots on, so the horses were fine with that. Clio was still limping a bit at the trot, but since the trail was so rocky, we stayed at a walk most of the time anyway. We stayed on the snowmobile trail until we reached the park boundary, then decided to try the Ginn trail, which was listed as not recommended for horses, but we were curious as to what that meant, so we dared it anyway. It was a bit narrower, which we liked, but we soon came to an “obstacle”, a boggy area that had a narrow plank boardwalk not suitable for horses, so we had to walk alongside it, which meant the horses were sinking in the mud a bit. Not quite impassible, but I wouldn’t want to try that on a day after a rain. There were two spots like that, and once we got around them the trail soon opened up to a snowmobile wide track again, and we continued around the perimeter until we returned to the campground. A very nice ride, just under 5 miles, just long enough to build up a little from our last ride, and to start getting the horses (and us!) back into shape.

Set the alarm for an early start, packed up and headed out by 8:30. I couldn’t find an RV dump on any of the maps, but when I called the ranger station yesterday, they told me it was behind the ranger station, so that was our first stop. There was absolutely no signage to the RV dump, but evidently the woman I had spoke to yesterday saw us coming and directed us to the dump, which she had to open a gate for us to get to! Of course, first I had to turn around again, as I had passed the unmarked entrance. What a poorly-managed place! I don’t know what they’re so afraid of here, there’s just this attitude that they’re afraid everyone’s going to take advantage of them and they have to prevent it at all costs, regardless of how much energy it takes! What is it about certain places, they just assume everyone is out to rip them off! All this nonsense with car tags (which no one every checked, by the way), and a locked gate to the RV dump, what’s that all about? Anyway, we finally got under way, stopped at a Burger King for breakfast, then headed up the highway (avoiding Boston entirely), first to a place where I had arranged to pick up hay (very nice hay, though the bales were kind of light for $6 each, but it was beautiful 2nd cutting hay that they were just bringing in from the field), then on to Bradbury Mountain State Park in Maine, with one stop at Shaws for grocery while Hubby stopped for gas. The park was just a few miles off the highway and very easy to find, though we made a wrong turn into the main park area instead of the campground a little further up the road. We were immediately met by a young woman ranger who had a package for me (I had arranged for a delivery and she was kind enough to bring it with her to meet us), and she made an excellent recommendation of a site suitable for us. Actually, it was two sites next to each other, but they let us have both while only charging us for one. Horses are not generally allowed here, but since it was off-season and they had the room, they were very accommodating. Not long afterward, the park manager stopped by to make sure everything was okay, again being very accommodating and friendly. It didn’t take long to get settled in, and after awhile, the woman ranger returned to collect payment. When I asked her if I needed to display my receipt in the dash of one of the vehicles, she said, “No, that’s okay, we know you’re here.” What a change from Massachusetts! Everyone was super-friendly, and it was like night and day from our last experience! Neighboring campers all greeted us nicely, several came up to visit with the horses, it was really wonderful. In fact, the only drawback was that even though quiet hours were after 10 pm, generator hours ended at 7, which made it a little hard because our batteries have been a bit weak, which means our usual evening of TV was shortened considerably, and we were so surrounded by trees we couldn’t get a satellite signal so all we had were recorded programs to watch. No matter, when the TV switched off, we just went to bed and read our Kindles for awhile. Still need to fight this bug and regain my hearing, so I’m not opposed to getting more sleep!

Still can’t hear very well, but feel better otherwise, so we decided we’d run out of time and just had to ride today. Saddled the horses up and headed out on one of the trailheads from the campground, though it wasn’t marked on any of the maps we had download from the internet or picked up at the office. The trail was mostly sand and dirt footing, which was nice, and the trees were mostly scrub pines, typical of areas near the beach, but the trail was quite narrow, and there were lots of very thick shrubbery and short trees crowding the trail, so the horses kept getting poked in the belly and their legs kept getting brushed by the shrubs, so it wasn’t an entirely comfortable ride. But we were happy to be out, and the horses seemed glad to be on the trail again, too. Apollo barreled along without hesitation, intent on getting through the brush, and to my addled mind, seemed to be walking faster and seemed taller than I remembered. That’s what comes from not riding for a month! Finally, we came out onto a sandy stretch that I identified as the gas line, which we discovered was also technically considered the bridle path. We crossed over it to a dirt road, which was a long straightaway, and started to trot and canter for a bit. Suddenly Hubby pulled up and said he thought Clio was limping, so we did a few test trots, and sure enough, she was favoring her back left leg. We decided not to press our luck, so based on my GPS, we took the most direct line back to the campground, which meant cutting through another camping area, then following the road. Fortunately, we had made a big loop, so we were only about a half mile away from the campground, and Clio seemed fine at the walk, so we just took our time getting back. Once there, Hubby put liniment all along her leg, and some wound salve on what seemed to be a little abrasion above her back heel. We weren’t sure what the cause was, so we were trying to cover all our bases! She also looked like she might have a bruise on her thigh, as if she had been kicked by a horse with shoes, which was highly possible at the horse farm, but only time will tell. Anyway, at least we got our ride in, and we can check Massachusetts off our list!

Marina making herself at home

Got out at a reasonable hour, stopped at the local sewer authority for a much needed dump, another quick stop at a Walmart before arriving at the Myles Standish Forest near Plymouth, MA. The office parking lot was too small and didn’t have a turnaround, so I had to back up to get out of it. Paid through Monday, not sure how long we’re planning on staying. Once we arrived at the campground we had to wait for a few minutes while another trailer was getting set up and were blocking the road in the meantime. Everyone in their group was dressed in desert fatigues and the side of the truck said something about Mass. Militia. Not sure what that was all about… Finally got past them, and headed toward the spot we had picked. The rangers in the office wouldn’t let us just pick a spot and call them, they insisted we select a site, sight unseen, and if we changed our mind we had to come back to the office to get new passes (6 miles of rough and potholed roads). Well, naturally, we found a site we thought would be better, so I immediately called to change the site, but they still insisted we come back for new vehicle tags. Once we got set up, I took the arduous trip back to pick up the new tags. What a waste of time and energy, but what can you do? The area where the horses were highlined had a lot of pine roots sticking up, and someone had gone around and painted them all blue, I guess to help people avoid tripping over them, which wasn’t easy even with the paint! Anyway, we finally got settled in, Hubby managed to get a satellite signal, and we had a quiet evening after a longer than expected day.