Short Dunes Ride

We got a phone call from our equestrian friends on Friday evening about meeting at Deep River County Park for a Saturday ride. Sounded great -- we had only been there once (see my previous post), and I really like the trails. I've been sick for two weeks with bronchitis, and have been anxious to go riding again.

But this was one of those days when nothing went as planned. The problem with Deep River is that when it rains a lot, the parking area becomes too muddy for horse trailers to negotiate. And that was the case on Saturday -- we got a call from one of our fellow riders saying that the gates were closed. Some of the others we were going to meet were able to park at a nearby horse stable, and rode to the trails from there. John and I do not have a connection for that type of parking arrangement, so we knew Deep River wasn't going to happen for us. So we decided to go to The Dunes instead.

As usual, it was beautiful. The parks department has wisely added boardwalk beyond the ends of the bridges. The situation was becoming unsafe -- the ground at the end of the bridges would become mud pits at certain times of the year. Horses would be freaked out by all the mud, and I know of one woman who ended up with a broken arm when her horse spooked trying to negotiate the mud. You can see the extension to the bridge in this picture....

Unfortunately, I was not yet back up to speed from the bronchitis. After only riding a third of the trail, I realized I was not up to it. We turned back too early....

But when we got back to the parking lot, we met these two guys on absolutely gorgeous Paso Fino horses.......here are the "Paso Fino Dudes"

The man in the first picture raises, trains and sells Paso Fino horses. If anyone is interested, I have his contact info.

We were too soon back at our barn, and I rested while John unloaded the trailer....

I hope to be able to hit the trails next weekend, and get in a full ride.

In Praise of Mares - Not Missing The Storm

We have been out to the Indiana Dunes to ride the trails the last couple of weekends, and of course, there is always something to talk about afterwards. To me that is what is so neat about trail riding -- it is always an adventure of some sort. Even if we are just going for a short ride on the trails near our house, something always makes the ride unique -- sometimes scary, sometimes funny, sometimes just a bit more interesting.

A couple of Saturdays ago, the day looked beautiful in spite of the weather channel warnings that storms were headed our way. We looked outside at the blue sky, felt the perfect temperature, and then looked again at the weather channel and its green blobs headed our way and agreed -- "What the heck! Let's go anyway. We will be done riding by the time the storm gets here."

Sure, we would have been thru the trails before the storm got there. The day was still beautiful when we arrived at the Dunes and began grooming the girls and tacking them up. The day was still beautiful as we admired a new truck in the parking lot, then met the owner as he came back from his ride. It was still beautiful as we stood there talking trucks and horses for about 45 minutes.

He was riding a mare, and we talked about how some people say mares are so awful. None of us could understand that -- our mares are great!

It was still beautiful when a husband and wife came out from the trail, also riding mares, and stopped to talk. It was the first time we had been to those trails when every horse there was a mare! There were only 3 trucks and trailers in the lot, and we were all there in the parking lot together and we were all riding mares! It was so neat!! The husband and wife do some training, and said that they would rather train a mare than a gelding -- they said that mares learn faster (no surprise here -- females are smarter!!). In fact, they own 5 or 6 horses, and they are all mares. So it was still beautiful as we stood there feeling all "mare superior" and talking for another half hour.

Finally we started on our ride, and there were some grey clouds overhead. We get almost all the way thru the trails, we were about 3 miles out, and it started to rain. I mean really rain. Thankfully the Dunes are pretty wooded, so we were not getting soaked. But I could also hear thunder..... So we picked up the pace. It was not long until John and Zora were way ahead of Divna and me.

I got to one point on the trail where it comes to a "T" -- to the right takes you back to the parking lot; to the left takes you back out on the trail. I had a premonition that John and Zora went off to the left. Somehow I just knew it.

Sure enough, when we got back to the parking lot they were not there. Once in the parking lot I could see there was lightening with this storm. I did not want to be out in the clear and take a chance of becoming a lightening rod. Also, out in the open like that I was getting soaked, so we went back in a little ways onto the trail to wait for John and Zora.

Divna started getting all nervous being without Zora. It seemed like eternity until they showed up. Sure enough, they took a left at the "T" -- John got mixed up, so he let Zora find the way back.

We waited under a picnic shelter until the rain subsided.

All in all, a pretty good ride!!!

Grooming Sessions - First Dunes Ride of 2010

Every critter we have is shedding (except the chickens). If I could ball all the hair up together, it would probably be the size of a small planet.


We have spent more time currying, brushing and combing lately. The last two Friday nights we even made it our evening entertainment. We go out to the barn with some beers, rakija and Serbian music and give everybody a thorough grooming. Then we spoil them with carrots and Vanilla Wafers (our goats are crazy about Vanilla Wafers).




You can see all the horse hair in the curry comb here. I use the shaving brush on Divna's eye socket. It gets pretty dusty in there, so I brush it out for her as part of the grooming ritual.



Zora is so sweet (that is, until you try to ride her -- then she turns into a crazy rocket!). When John grooms her, she can't wait for the chance to rest her big head on his shoulder. I think she is in love with him.

We went for our first ride in the Indiana Dunes last weekend. It is closed to horses during the Winter so the cross country skiiers can use it. It was a pretty day -- a bit chilly, but that was OK. The trails looked so different than they did the in the Fall, when we were there last. Also, last Spring the trails were underwater the first time we went back for the season. Not this time -- there was some water, but it was not flooded. But the Dunes are coming to life right now, and it was really pretty. We are so fortunate to have this great riding place so close to home.


Along the trail there are little bridges because there are creeks and wet spots in the Dunes. At one bridge, there was a huge mud pit on the trail at the end of the bridge. Zora and John were in the lead, and Zora was having no part of going thru that mud. We were not going to turn around and go back (the trails are supposed to be ridden one-way only), and besides, the bridge is so narrow that I don't believe turning around is even possible.


So there we stood. John coaxed, kicked, smacked her rump -- every thing he could think of. No way was she going thru that mud. She is such a goofball, and comes up with some of the craziest stuff sometimes. At one point she actually started to kneel down! I think she was just overwhelmed over the prospect of walking through that mud, and didn't know what else to do!

After what seemed like 10 minutes, John finally had to get off and pull her across.


Divna went thru it like a champ!! I loved it......It's not often I can "one-up" him on the trail. It was finally my turn!

Too Many Rides to Write About

We have been back from our mini-vacation to Cancun for one week and two days now, and have had 3 rides. But also during this time we have had a dinner party with overnight friends, hosted Thanksgiving, and I have been buried at work from being gone for a week. Not to mention the ton of laundry to do, large pile of mail to go thru, and who knows how many pounds of horse and chicken manuer (spelling???) to clean up. Our neighbors took very good care of our animals while we were gone, but we do not ask them to clean the pasture and coop....that is a bit beyond "good neighbor" tasks. As a result, I have not had time to blog -- to read or to post. I really miss reading everyone's blogs. I feel like I am out of touch.....

So we are off to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore today for a long ride, and our "last fling" of what has basically been two weeks of vacation. Tomorrow is going to be reserved for getting ready for the first full work-week in 2 weeks and catching up on things (like my blog). (Above photo is the moon rising over the Indiana Dunes -- I took that on our 2nd ride after the vacation -- we were at the park riding with our friend DeeDee)

I will be reading everyone's posts and putting up some of my own soon..................

Happy trails to all out there. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday. We all have so much to be thankful for. See you soon..........