Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015 – First Ride Day at Harrison State Forest

Slept late this morning, it's so nice and quiet here, at the moment anyway, and the site we're in doesn't get any sun until practically noon! Got the horses saddled up and out by just after 1:00, with intentions to hit three loops that run off the main trail. We headed out the main blue trail that runs east to west through the length of the park. The trails were a little rocky at first, but really had more dirt and grass, so I didn't put boots on Apollo, though I did carry them, just in case. What started out as a fairly easy trail quickly became more challenging, mainly because the hills were much more plentiful and steep than we had anticipated, so much so that my GPS had a little trouble following us, as I discovered later when downloading the route. It was a great workout for the horses, though! They both worked up a sweat in the near 80 degree temps, but we all had a great time. In the end, we skipped the final red north loop, as we had already been out almost two hours, and today was supposed to be a short ride. We'll take that loop out when we leave next time! A very nice ride, did lots of cantering uphill, the terrain was varied, from deep woods to recovering clear-cut areas, passing by a number of small lakes and ponds. Really a pleasant surprise, as we thought that since the forest was so small it might not be very interesting, but not the case! Very challenging and interesting! Got everybody settled by around 4, then I headed out to town to get a replacement rope for the starter handle on the generator that broke last night, as well as a few other odds and ends, and to check my email. Got back and helped Hubby put the generator back together again before settling down for the debates on CNN, before heading to bed, late, of course!