Trail delights

The mare was somewhat Pensive starting out.for a walking ride yesterday.. Her leg looked 95 % better and I wanted to connect with her alone in the woods...but did noit want to ask her to do anything slippery or steep or too uneven with the past events.

There is a trail, right across the street, that cuts down to the gate entrance to some of our trails. I went over to it and she just balked like crazy...in fact, it was very pissy and not safe how she went about it= on the road. Good thing it is a no-through road and visibility is HIGH!
She would go up to the trail and give me the stink-eye look and quickly back down the embankment. It made me very nervous after her falling on me. I waved my crop and that did get her attention yet, she persisted. I dismounted, giving her the benefit of the doubt since the terrain WAS disturbed by the road cutter machine that came through and hashed all the trees and bushes back earlier that week. maybe there was a hidden spiky branch or glass or? I looked and cleared all debris...nothing dangerous..but now that I was off...I gave her a small tap of the crop in the rear end as I asked her to go forward with me into the trail where I saw a stump to mount again.

We headed a new direction and it brought us to very new sights this day.

These new trails... are on a map that my PBO gave to me when I came there to board.

It is 4 pages long and goes all the way to a place the long distance riders like to endurance train to called "Goat Mountain". With a name like that..I may need a goat to ride there..and not this mare! We shall see.

These cliffs were so cool(above) they were huge and I took a photo from the base with the mare's ears and then another from half way up the first shot to show how tall it was...Soo very cool! Climbers would be delighted to see this.


Then, along the path there were ripening "Salmon Berries" all over and we did sample them a few times..thinking that, with each bite they would have more flavor...NOPE...they are like diet foods...you keep taking a bite of more..not feeling guilty, but also NOT getting any satisfaction from the taste!

They were awfully pretty and very Orange. They must hold some nutritional value for the animals that eat them as they ripen..cause this human and my horse did not find them all that appealing..she ate 3 and refused the 4th.

Al in all it was a nice ride..though she really was sweating this time..first time this spring that she has even gotten hot and I think it may be her drugs or something..we only walked and it was not hot out..a bit sultry, maybe. I really wanted to find a loop and did not bring the map..darn..so I headed up one trail thinking it would loop[ and it was ultra rocky..like a creek bed. I did not put the mare's hoof boots on so I made a deal with her...if it did not pan out to be a loop..I would dismount and she would not have to walk down the rooks with me on board.
I did end up turning around and kept my promise.

When I returned to the stable..yep It was a large loop..and it actually connects with the road to Goat Mountain! So I now have two ways of traveling to my summers destination!
I need a GPS though... maybe for my B-day?

Hope you all have a fab weekend...be catching up with you all soon.