Trailridin' at Sister Creek Ranch Boerne, Texas

On Wednesday the weather FINALLY cooperated enough for us to take a 40 minute trek out to Sister Creek Ranch in Boerne, Texas. Located on 700 acres chock full of trails, an arena, a covered round pen, XC jumps, and a barn to DIE for, it didn't take me long to fall in love, and feel the intense yearning to own my own ranch (stable) one day. Linda's friend Kathy from Massachusetts whom she met out on the trail last year was along for the ride, and she rode Linda's horse Red, while Linda rode her new three year old Traveler, and of course I rode Jackson. Linda and I did switch mounts halfway through as I had never ridden her new horse, and have been interested to see what he feels like. Being a three year old, the first thing I noticed is that he has no sides to put your lower leg against!  WEIRD! :) I just rode him with a very loose rein and worked on basic aids to start getting him used to the feel of them. He was awesome! He has a sweet trot and is very calm and willing and not spooky at all. Since he is still small and growing, please don't laugh at the pic of us! My 5'9 frame  made me look huge; and I weigh 148, not super thin,but i look like I weigh 200 lbs. plus! ;) None of our horses had ever been to this ranch, and Traveler had never even been off of Linda's property! They all took it in stride. We meandered around for a couple of hours, and since Linda forgot the map (doh!) we never really knew exactly where we were. We had a CB though, and easily found our way home without having to radio for directions. (Next time Mindy gets the map, hee hee...). If you want to check out their beautiful facility go to http://www.sistercreekranch.com/

They have two guest houses, a really awesome saloon with full kitchen, RV hookups, pens for your horses, etc. They are not very commercialized, mostly because they want it that way. They don't rent out horses, offer guides, or do any of the dude ranch type stuff, you must bring your own horse and then you can camp in a tent, RV or rent a guest house (pictured below to the left, next to the SALOON!) They have a great weekend coming up in the summer (July) for woman and their horses called "Too Hot To Trot". Sounds like a fun event I will check out. May be too hot to trot, but making friends is always fun! Morning and evening rides are predominant here in Texas in those hot summer months! I can't wait for blasted winter to be over with! Jackson has no shoes and has been exposed to CRAZY amounts of mud for the past two months. The rock we encountered on this ride was NOTHING compared to what we normally do (when we have no MUD months) and at the end of the ride he actually got ouchy! I was a bit freaked out because in the three years I have had him, he has NEVER been ouchy in ANY terrain we have ridden. Linda's horses, (who have shoes in the front!) acted as if they were about to die at the beginning of the ride when we were on the road! But I will keep an eye out and talk to the farrier. He is not lame and is walking as if nothing happened. In fact as soon as we stepped off the road, he stepped out normally. Fairly sure the mud just had to let itself be known in one more ways than it already has. WINTER BEGONE!! Bring on the heat! ;)

Thank God for this day, it was like a dose of Zoloft, lifting my winter funk hugely. I must admit it. I love jumping. I love dressage. But without my trail rides I wouldn't be able to function. Could I love riding the trails more than jumping? It doesn't matter, but I may have to say "Yes..." Luckily, I can do many things on Mr. Versatile so I won't ever have to choose anyway, and I'm never going to be the barn snob who won't take her horse on a trail ride because he's such a valuable competition horse and could get hurt! Trailrides. Yep. My version of Zoloft anyday.....

Saloon to reader's right, guesthouses to left..

Main office

Linda...wish I owned this butt fitting bench! So comfortable!

Linda on Jackson with Kathy on Red ahead of her

Kathy (left) on Red, Linda (right) on Traveler

Steppin' out

Kathy and Linda

Linda on Jackson

Linda on Jackson...Love his face in this one. Isn't it cool to see someone else on your horse sometimes?

Me on Traveler. Come on Traveler. GROW!

View from a ridgetop

Me on Jackson, Kathy up ahead--heading home.