Part Two -- Midwest Trail Ride: The Trails
It was late afternoon when we arrived, so we knew we wouldn't take a long ride that day -- we needed to let The Girls rest up, and we didn't want to use up time putting on their boots. But we couldn't resist getting out to see what the trails were like, so we saddled up. I made a misstep and Divna stepped right on my foot. I ended up with a large bruise as a result.
Midwest Trail Ride has their own park property with trails, and the park is adjacent to the Hoosier National Forest which has almost 100 miles of trails. The park trails lead into the Forest trails, so there is lots of riding to be done. We took the closest trail and rode for about a half hour until it started getting too rocky. But for that half hour we got a good idea of how it would be, and we were not disappointed. We could tell the trails are beautiful and challenging, and couldn't wait to get out the next day.
As I mentioned in Part One, the weather wasn't the best. We had some rain overnight. We chose the trails that lead to a small church, and set off once it stopped drizzling. It was really beautiful out in the Hoosier National Forest. The trails got a bit steep, and they were wet from the rain. We didn't get too far out before Zora slipped on the trail and fell! Fortunately, it was not a real bad fall and neither she or John were hurt, but it did cause us to be more careful.
Unfortunately, the camera battery died, and I have no pictures of the trails. So disappointing!
It rained/drizzled every day were were there, but fortunately we were still able to ride every day. We waited until there were breaks in the weather, but found that the other equestrians there did not mind riding in the rain! They all seemed to have rain gear and took off for the trails no matter how much rain was falling. They are tougher than we are -- we are not rain riders; snow riders, but not rain riders.
The trail to the little church was such a nice ride. The church even had an area designated for riders, complete with hitching posts, a picnic table and a bathroom. We stopped there and had a snack and gave treats to The Girls. I gave some treats to some other horses hitched there, and one of the horses bit my finger -- so I have another bruise, this one under my fingernail.
On one ride, we took a different route back and got to a point where a bridge was washed out. We rode in the creek/small river until we could find a place to get back into the campground. There were rocks, and in places it was pretty deep, but our Girls are fabulous trail horses and handled it like pros. This was my favorite ride. But again, the blasted camera battery was dead so I couldn't get any pictures!!!
On Friday thet place really started to fill up, which brought a problem I had not anticipated. Our Girls now had neighbors, and Divna is not the most sociable with other horses. She did have a horse next to her from the first day we arrived, and that was no problem -- she got along fine with him. But when another horse was placed in the stall directly behind her, she got very nervous. She started striking out at the gate in front of her, and it looked like she would get her hoof caught. We hung a tarp over the back of Divna's stall and John secured it real tight so it wouldn't blow around in the wind. Fortunately, that solved the problem.
I would like to have a picture of her with the tarp on the stall to post here, but you know, that damn battery.
As you would imagine, the day were were leaving we woke up to a cloudless sky and beautiful sunshine. We thought we would take one last ride. The man who manages the facility told us we could day ride for no charge, which was really nice. So we started packing up. As I was bringing stuff outside, a bee stung me on my hand. It was strange, because it really hurt -- more than other bee stings I have had.
So we get packed up and go to the parking area for day riding. When we got the girls out of the trailer for grooming Zora started acting up big time. This is very unusal behavior for her -- she is generally great on the ground. So we decided to just get on the road for home.
As it turns out, things do happen for a reason. It is a good thing we did not take that ride. On the way home, everything changed.......and the end of this trip took a turn we never could have predicted.
Stahy tuned for Part 3 -- The Detour Home.....
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