After getting to better know which trails will be used for the endurance race next weekend, Jo asked me to do some preliminary marking if I had the chance, so I started out on Apollo, marking the first sections of the trail as requested. I also scouted out the last mile on the return, but wasn't sure what she wanted, so left it unmarked for the time being, until I get clarification. Then I went back, had some brunch, and saddled up Flash so I could ride the whole 14-mile ride section to make sure it was the right length and to check any areas that might need further clearing. I missed a loop cutoff on the orange trail, but I was able to fix that on Google Earth to make the right measurement, and it turned out just right. I made mental notes of areas that needed to be tidied up or, if possible, have the trail dragged to get rid of some serious ruts, and reported that all back to Jo. Flash was a bit less frantic on this ride, though he did keep up a good pace. I'm hoping he'll be fit enough for next weekend! It's been such a long time since I've spent so many hours in the saddle on one day, it felt GREAT! This is really a nice Forest, and my only criticism is that they only mark the trails going in one direction, so if you happen to start off going the other way, you won't see any markers except at intersections, so it gets a little scary and uncertain at times. I remembered this from our last time out here when we rode down at Tidewater and how annoying that was, not sure why they do it that way. Anyway, it was a fabulous day, and finally warm enough for Hubby to sit outside in the screen room all day reading, so he hardly missed me. Got back and settled down for the evening, another satisfying day on the road!

Had a great night sleep, my cold/flu is all but gone except the occasional cough, and woke up to temps 5 or 6 degrees warmer than what we've been dealing with lately, which felt like a much bigger change than it sounds. Got the horses fed and cleaned up, another load of laundry started, then Hubby got up feeling so well this morning he wanted to go riding! Yay! So after a while I saddled up the horses and we took an absolutely lovely 3.5 mile ride on the Lake Loop. Hubby managed to get on AND get off Apollo today, with no help from me! Looks like his back treatment is a success! The trails had some nice easy grades, and it weaved through some beautiful woods on the ridge, then down to the lake and back again. We both really enjoyed it. Flash was calmer because Apollo was with him, and he seemed to stop and wait for him on his own quite often. Apollo, not surprisingly, was a slug for the first half, but then when we turned on the bottom side of the loop (and we were heading back in the direction of the barn :-), his tempo picked up, as did Flash's. Hubby did just fine, no pain at all, even though it was a longer ride than he's done in a long time! Got back to camp, settled the horses back in their stalls, started Hubby's dialysis session and more laundry, and settled down for the rest of a quiet day.

I was hoping Hubby would be feeling well enough to ride with me today, but unfortunately that wasn't the case, and since Apollo hadn't been ridden in so long, I knew I had to get him on the trail today, so I saddle him up and headed out to try out another couple of trails I hadn't explored yet that wouldn't take too long. We ended up going down another trail that had one name on the trail and a different name on the map, and a trail that I had tried to find coming the other way and never did, but took it backwards so I could find the trail end, which I did. Apollo was a bit spunky, whinnying quite a bit along the way (I guess he was missing Flash!), but he settled down nicely, and it was a very nice nearly 5 mile ride. When I got back and put Apollo away, I saddled up Flash and headed out to see if I could finally find the elusive trail out on the west peninsula. At last, I managed to find the south side trailhead of it, though for a while I thought I was going the other way around. When I crossed the road, I came across a section of trail that was quite nice, with some sections that had a steep dropoff to the lake, but also had quite a bit of growth blocking sections of it at well. It looked like it had been quite a while since it had been used, and when I reached the end of it, I discovered why. The trail marker pointing to that section of the trail was so buried in weeds and undergrowth it was just about impossible to see! I imagine most people just followed the road instead, which would still make a decent loop, but they're really missing out on a nice trail just a few yards away. Glad we finally found it!! Well, that just about wrapped up the trails, with one exception, Ye Old Hill Climb, which we did on the way back. Flash was really full of spirit all day today, I had to really rein him in most of the ride, the complete opposite of Apollo, who was calm as could be. Quite the contrast all in one day! Got back to camp the second time after a nice nearly 9 mile ride, so quite a day of riding today! I doubt I'll have much of a chance to ride again for a couple of weeks, as it's going to be quite busy for us, so I'm glad I was able to get everyone out for a bit of exercise, including me! Put everyone away, did my chores, and settled down for the evening.

Well, after a rather confusing start on my last trail ride, which I managed to decipher a bit once I downloaded it and overlaid it on Google Earth, I realized I had covered much of the southern side of the park, so today I decided to do the eastern and northern parts of the park as much as possible. Saddled up Flash and headed out on the trailhead at the north end of the park, which took me toward the day parking area. From there I went down what the map called the Lazy Creek Crossing Trail, and showed as a loop, but once I got to what I guess what the Lazy Creek, the trail entered Snyder Hollow and disappeared. Some trees were down, but it still didn't look like there was any trail beyond that, so we turned around and circled around until I finally ran out of places to go, so I headed back to Possum Ridge where it runs along the south side of the park road and took that due west, hoping to find the part of Lake View trail that went out into the farthest west peninsula. Unfortunately, that eluded me again, but I did find where it crossed the road to the northern side of the park. On the map it shows several different trails of various names, but the only obvious trail I found had "Big Beech Trail" signs all along it. Near as I could figure once I got home and download our route was the Big Beech is known as Piney Woods on the map. Go figure. There have been so many times where the map and what's on the ground aren't very close, and this was a classic example. So not only is the map hand-drawn and inaccurate as to where the trails are, the names have been changed in many cases. Oh, well, it was a pretty nice trail, a bit in need of maintenance but overall not bad, single track through most of it. It eventually wound around back to the same trailhead where I started, completing another 8.5+ mile ride on Flash. Did some chores and other various and sundry things before settling down for the evening. Another great day on the road.

Feeling much more rested today, so I decided to take Flash out and explore the trails. The map shows quite a few loops, including a nice perimeter around the park, so I planned on doing that. Unfortunately, it seems the map is hand-drawn, because I can't get it to line up properly on Google Earth as an overlay, so I'm only guessing as to how long the trails are and where they go. It's not a huge park, though, and there's a main road running through the middle of it, so getting lost will be hard to do. Got him saddled up, then headed south out of the camp through the woods and across a couple of roads to the main Possum Ridge trail. This is what I call a "trail by bulldozer" type trail, but eventually I took a single track trail that led me to a much nicer trail called Lake View. There are some good markings at the intersections, which helps a lot. I turn another turn out to Lake Vista trail, which was a bit more challenging and not as well maintained, but did take us right down to the lake, even crossing the edge of it a time or two. Then I got a bit confused by the sign that said Loop 2, which wasn't indicated on the map, unless it was another name for Horseshoe Loop. That was the least maintained trail I had been on yet, still passable, but a bit more challenging. That brought me back to Lake View, but it didn't seem to go in the direction the map indicated, so I got turned around a bit. By then we had been gone longer than I anticipated, so rather than complete the perimeter, I tried to find a shorter way back to camp, and the map was of little assistance there. I had wanted to loop around and come back to camp on the north trailhead, but couldn't find the right trail to take, so I ended up on Possum Ridge again, and came in from the south where I had left. Still, a nice ride, and I let Flash make most of the decisions, so he was more engaged than ever. He's really starting to come along, learning the follow the trail and pick his own footing, something he never used to do. Much improved! Got back to camp, had a quick lunch, then headed up to Shelbyville (KY) to do some shopping at Tractor Supply (darn it, forgot to bring my propane tanks!) and Walmart. SO GLAD we're back in Blue Bell Ice Cream territory again!! It's that time of year for my favorite limited edition ice cream of all time, Blue Bell's Spiced Pumpkin Pecan! If you haven't tried it, you MUST!! It's the best!! Got back to camp by 4:00 or so, and it was getting crowded again with the usual Friday night crowd coming in, but then, there's also a rain storm and a cold front making it's way in overnight, too, so likely to be much cooler tomorrow!

Thanks to the generosity of Mike Gerard, who is a highly influential individual in the park, and who brought out his small livestock trailer for me to borrow, I was able to go down to the much-touted Mohican State Forest for a nice long ride on Flash. I had heard so much about Mohican, from folks at just about every horse camp we've stayed at in Ohio, that I was really looking forward to it. I decided to get as much of the park done as I could, since I wasn't positive I'd have another chance to ride before we leave next week, so I chose the blue perimeter trail, described as being 14 miles (just a walk in the park for my maniac Flash!) There were a number of other trailers in the parking area, and I managed to have a brief chat with a rider who had just come in, and she suggested which direction to go to avoid any confusion. I headed out, carrying boots with me because I had been told that the rocks weren't too bad, but I tend to carry them anyway, just in case. And am I glad I did!! After two miles of rocky gravel fire road, I kept waiting to turn off into the woods, but that didn't happen. Well, it did, for about 100 yards before turning into gravel again, so I stopped and put on Flash's boots, which I should have done much earlier. We kept going, though most of it wasn't what I like in trails. A lot of it was on gravel forest or pipeline service roads, utility easements, and more gas well-head pumps than I think I've ever seen in one place before! At least Flash won't ever be jumpy at one again, since we must have passed more than half a dozen! There was only a few wet spots, and of course, we lost a boot in one of those, but since I had been close attention, I didn't have to go back very far for it. Eventually we did finally get into single-track trails through the woods, but that was by far the minority on this trip, and I can't say I was overly-impressed with the so-called trails here. Perhaps there are nicer ones elsewhere, and I hope I get a chance to try them out, but for the moment, my feelings about the place are less than stellar. Perhaps a ride up to the lodge if we get a chance. Anyway, I loaded up Flash and headed back to camp, then managed to relax a bit during the evening. The good news is that I stopped off on my way out yesterday and left my computer at the camp office so that it could download my files on their much faster wi-fi, and even though it wasn't done when I got back, it was up in the 70+ percent bracket, so it should be done by tomorrow morning, I hope!!

After a fairly lazy morning, and checking out Apollo's legs for any gimpiness, it seems that he just might be a bit stiff from standing around so long, I decided to saddle him up and just take him for a short ride. He was reluctant, but I think that was partly because it was so late in the day (as if he was going to miss dinner!), and maybe partly because of his stiffness, but with some gentle persuasion I managed to get him moving. He improved somewhat once we got out of camp, and I didn't really see any signs of limping, so I think it's just stiffness from standing on a highline for so many days in a row. We stayed within the park today, picking up a couple of trails I had missed previously, like along the utility easement and a short one that's not even on the map (go figure!), for just about an hour before we made it back to camp. Just as we were passing a pile of dirt and a building next to the camp, two deer suddenly bolted in front of us, which, naturally, made Apollo jump, but I managed to hand on, so damage done! Got our adrenaline going, though! Got back to camp and settled down for the evening. Several regulars here showed up tonight, early for the weekend, so we had several chats during the afternoon and evening. Another beautiful day reminiscent of my childhood days at the cottage!

Woke up to another gorgeous day, and since I had a day off from caregiving, I went on a long ride on Flash. The only con to this place is the lack of trails. The ones they have are nice, but there is only about an hour or so of riding if you take every trail in the park. You have to get off the property to get to more trails, and even that's pretty boring. I've noticed some people will take the trail toward Malabar, then make a big loop around a crop field a few miles out and come back again on the same trail. But Flash and I were both ready for a long ride today, so we headed out on the same linear trail to Malabar and kept going. I found one alternative trail to take that added a new trail experience, then later found the trail up to the Jeez overlook, which is the highest point around. Hubby and I had already driven out there, but I wanted to make it on horseback and we had no problem getting up to it. Passed a couple of bikers going in, but it was quiet at the summit when we got there. Beautiful view of the surrounding area, including the lake in the distance. Flash was in the mood to go, go, go today, and we did over 16 miles in less than 3.5 hours, averaging 4.7 miles per hour according to my mapping program. We did quite a bit of cantering along the fields as well as gaiting through the forest. He loves to move, this horse! And yet when we got back, the only sweat was under the saddle pad, just as it should be! Good horse! Great ride! Settled down for the afternoon reading and napping, a really fantastic day!

Hubby felt strong enough for a ride this morning, so I saddled up the horses and headed out on the trail. We did all the same trails we had done before, plus I added a loop on the white trail that wasn't too rough for him, and we ended up going over 3 miles, taking just over an hour. He was a bit tired by the end, but he did great, considering this was the longest ride he's been on in a while! On one section of the trail, there were a couple of young deer that just stood there watching us, and when we stopped to watch them, one actually stepped bravely toward us, giving us a great view! Got back to camp and started his dialysis afterward, had a bit of trouble with his access today, sorry to say it seems to be closing up again already, the venous clogged and we had to stop early, only getting about half the session in. Sigh. Looks like we'll have to schedule a de-clogging procedure before long, sorry to say. Oh, well, comes with the territory! Had a relaxing evening, expecting it to be a busy weekend, so we're enjoying the quiet while we can!