Can’t seem to help but get up before 7:00 or so, as it gets so light so early here in Central Time. Not to mention there’s a lot of traffic here, like at most State Parks. Anyway, got the horses fed by the time Hubby woke up, then walked the dogs as he started making coffee and getting ready for breakfast. Relaxed a bit in the morning, then got the horses saddles for our last ride here today. Yesterday was the first time I had tried out my new saddle-shaped bareback pad, and with the severe terrain here (pretty steep ascents and descents), it was a good test to try it out. I had to rework the stirrups, as they really don’t have a great buckle system, and were slipping like crazy yesterday, but we managed to find a way to lock them in. I added my lambskin cover, which was a tremendous help, I never noticed the rings at all today, and I started getting used to going for the mane instead of the horn (on my old saddle:-), though my balance seems to be improving dramatically, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing a lot less grabbing as I get more confident. Took a much longer ride today, but again there was a discrepancy between my GPS and Google Earth, with one saying the trip was 5.5 miles and the other saying over 8. We added a section by accident, but were glad we did when we found ourselves on the top of a cliff overlooking the lake for which the park was name (and which we hadn’t even seen yet!), with a spectacular view! There were several islands that, according to the map, were half in Kentucky and half in Tennessee, and since we were looking south, most of the view was the latter. Not as many boats on the lake as I would have thought for a Sunday, and no sailboats at all that I could see, just motor boats of varying sizes and shapes. Glad we went the extra .8 miles and back to see it, was a nice place to take a rest anyhow. In any event, it was a decent three hour ride, but I have to say, these are some of the worst maintained trails I ever seen, especially for a state park, and even more so for a state “resort” park! So many limbs have fallen across the trail that it’s almost impossible to ever get in a decent trot or canter, despite the fact there’s plenty of opportunities otherwise. All it would take would be a crew for a few days to get everything is ship-shape. I’ve seen national forests with better-maintained trails! At least today I wore long sleeves so I wouldn’t get scratched by all the brambles that have stretched themselves into the trail. Apollo and I did have several good canters today, and a couple of trots as well. He seems to be moving so much more easily with this new configuration, so I’m hoping that once I gain a bit more confidence, we’ll be able to manage anything! Got back right around 3, got everyone settled, gave the horses a quick rinse off, packed up all the items we could for our departure tomorrow, and settled in for a quiet and relaxing evening.
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