San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park





Parking lot of trailers...and two had just pulled out

Four hour ride yesterday. Seriously the longest and most strenuous Jackson and I have done in awhile, we were both beat by the end, but WOW this State Park is to die for! Pretty much attached to Sawhorse Farm it is 7,000 acres of well marked horse and bike trails. And the horse trails are JUST for the horses! Nice. People trailer in to ride here, but we have our own personal gate, how awesome is that? When my friend who I came to stay with here in Florida heard that the farm borders this park, her mouth dropped open, and her comment was just, "Wow, that's incredible." Now I know what all the hoopla is about. It really is! We ambled about, trotting alot, and the footing is great on most of the trails. You can pretty much find sand or grass with packed sand beneath it. We did find probably one of the crappiest trails in the park at one point, and it was loaded with tree roots, but MAN, there is NO rock. My barefoot horse says, "YES!" On most of the trails you can ride side by side. It was kind of funny at one point. Jackson was just doing his ground covering trot, and Bugs the Morgan was cantering beside us at the same speed. I have officially decided that I hate my Australian saddle, and will trail ride in my flat jumping saddle from now on. I can't handle the way the Aussie throws me out of position. It may be my particular saddle, or the fact that I just am an English rider and can't handle the loss of contact either. Anyhow, next ride will be back in my Bates Caprilli. Enjoy the pics, not many great ones, I only took a few. I was quite absorbed in the forest!

Off-roadin' it on horseback! :)

                                             Can you spot the bridge?

I am looking forward to getting myself in better shape, and I'm actually very surprised that I am not more sore today! I guess riding four days a week is already working on me. The sand and the hills are excellent conditioning for the horses. There are areas of grass with sand underneath, and areas where its ankle deep and white like at the beach. Yeah. Can you tell I'm super excited about the footing? Sorry. Texas rock was harsh! There are going to be many rides in this park, I can't wait!

Toasted with A Side of Laughter....

Yesterday Linda and I set out early to load up our horses, food, and necessary items to go on an early morning trail ride with our equine club Hlll Country Equine Friends . Since my son's father was in Iraq for ten months and I was the sole caretaker, I haven't been available to participate in all of the cool activities this club has had to offer! Also, my time in Texas is drawing to a close, so I was really looking forward to this one! It was supposed to be a camping weekend getaway, and then when folks were not RSVP'ing--due to vacations, a broken arm, and (I personally think) the heat-- it was cancelled and turned into an AM trail ride. Wusses! Just KIDDING! Well, only the true die-hard ride in the heat like I do (Linda too!), I suppose! Bring on the heat! I would've camped anyway! I love camping! We got there, checked in, and preceded to the three campsites that we had reserved. I found out on the way to the Park, that the only OTHER person coming was another woman that I had actually met before. I was happy, she is a cool gal! In fact, my Stubben breast collar used to be hers! I was also hoping our vet and his wife might make it. Our vet = one cool dude. I love that he NEVER minds all my questions, paired with the fact that he is a wealth of interesting knowledge and HELP. So strike the camping trip, AND THEN, our group trail ride! Argh.! The gal who was coming left us a message. She had had a blowout (on her property, thank GOD) and was not going to make our ride time. Our good friend Lorri--who isn't a heat wimp, and was MISSED by Linda and myself-- had gone to Houston to pick up her new Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy named COPPER! BTW: WELCOME TO THE FAMILY COPPER!

Linda and I tacked up, locked up-- *important to note for later*,  put the cooler in the shade, and headed out. There were lots of people on the in the park. On the more popular trails. Since Linda helped build the trails (on 5,000 acres!) some thirty years ago, she knew right where to go---shade, shade, and not a lot of rock for my boy's back feet--we need boots--no more rock bruises! It was also one of the paths not as "known about". YEAH! Luckily, we only ran into two groups on our 2 hour trail ride. SWEET! I love navigators who actually know where they are, and what they're doing. So we had some great areas to look at, LOTS of shade, and cantering, trotting areas on some really nice soft ground. Side by side much of the ride! We didn't do TONS of MOVIN', due to the heat of course, but enough to satisfy the itch! We did lots of cooling them out in between, so they were hot, but never panting. Sweaty, but never scarily so. There was a breeze as well, OH HAPPY DAY!

Views  in the distance...

She's going up! Tiny hill to get to a photo op....

Linda on Red (the Growth, as I call him....:) He was really nice to Jackson yesterday, Thanks RED!

RED caught in a compromising position...Honestly, for some reason, neither one of us realized he was peeing, WE DO get up off of their kidneys for that! We cracked up when we realized we had caught this later, RED is now humiliated viva la Internet! ---BIG SMUG GRIN on my face---

Why the dislike? He runs me down if the mood strikes him (to get out the gate!) ohhhhhhh....bad, bad bad..., and he IS MEAN TO MY HORSE! HE IS A BIG, FAT, growth of a  Missouri Foxtrotter...I tease about him, but I guess I grudgingly admit a "certain" fondness for him. Every few months or so... :)

COOL looking dead woods...

"Mom--Listen. I am quite sure there are EQUINE EATING MONSTERS

in them thar' woods."  Me: "Chillax. Let's GO!" So he did (after a nice firm kick!:).

Made it...phew!

Almost perfectly square!

I apologize for the multitude of Mindy and Jackson pics. I have none of us since I hit my goal weight, and Linda shot some GREAT ones (of Jackson anywhoo!), and I wanted to share! Yes, I know his mane still needs pulled properly. I'd rather ride than stand in the heat and play with a mane! It's on my TO DO list. At the bottom. Really, I'm ashamed at my horridness. REALLY. Oh God. I can't live with it... I AM a bad mom, I guess! :) I do know how to pull a mane. Three different (correct) ways, in fact. I have no pride. LOL!

And then...suspenseful music begins to play...DA DA DUMB DUMB DUMB....we got back to our camp, and Linda realized she had brought the ignition key, but not the key that unlocks the truck doors! DOH! I am truly bad luck, this is the third time in 1 month or so that she has lost a key (tubing), locked it in her car (lunch at a restaurant), or forgot it (yesterday)! Seriously. I just shook my head. I should know at this point to A)have copies of all her keys, and B) remind her about any and ALL keys. I just laughed and got on top of the truck cab to get reception via cell phone. I then called MY insurance companies roadside assistance--guaranteed in 90 minutes--WORD. When the tow truck driver arrived to unlock the door, we got him to show us the tool. NOT a slim jim. He showed us how to make it. It involves a long slim piece of thin flexible plastic folded in half with sandpaper at the crease. You can make it for less than $1.50. Cool! He got the door open in less than two minutes. WOW. While we were waiting, we had untacked, given the horses a little hay, ate (quickly), and then rode both horses bareback with halters and lead ropes to the wash rack located about a mile down for baths with my rice brush and a bit of horse wash. LORD, I love that rice brush! If you never do anything, spend the money on a REAL (not synthetic) rice brush! It is the grooming brush I love the most, perfect for baths and getting to the root of the problem! We were leading the horses back from their baths when when Mr. Nice Tow Truck Guy showed up and we told him to go on ahead! As mentioned, he had it open in record time, we loaded the horses, and made a slight detour to the leather/tack store to get various items repaired. SUPER reasonable and great work! We were in there 10 minutes tops and parked in the shade! We made it home, safe, alive, and TIRED! Good times, good times....

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.

Trottin' Into the Wind

"Oh Lordy, she's kissing me again?" Puts on tolerant face, eyes at half mast.

Yesterday dawned bright and sunny with 70 degree temperatures, calling us to ride. I got out to Linda's and the wind gusts were blowing us over. Easily 35-40 mph.  But, nothing was going to stop us from riding (because of rain, mud and schedules, none of us had ridden in 2 weeks...HORROR!) so we set out and tacked up. Jackson tends to spook when it's really windy, but I thought to myself, "Oh well, he'll have to get over it, and I will too, because WE ARE RIDING!" Other than him trying his, "I'm going to back up so you'll turn around and put me away," antic at the onset, he did great! I just did a few circles to make him think he was getting his way, and then finally just gave him a kick and a stern "Walk On!," and he started walking across the big scary pasture with 3 feet of dried grass.

We rode over to Lorri's to pick her up, but didn't do any arena work or jumping today (OK, I did trot cavaletti) but the wind was miserable and it just wouldn't have been fun to hang out there. Not even for jumping. Lots of nice scary noises to freak Jackson out, but he did well with them all, even the rumble of the tin roof on the barn that would have scared me if I were a horse! Lots of good bomb proofing experiences were going on at Lorri's yesterday, including her husband burning the Christmas tree (yep, in the wind! we all just shook our heads over that one, even his wife...MEN! ;) but of course, it helped that he had been there several times before. Still, I was impressed with his calm, (somewhat on alert, but calm) demeanor and "spook smarts." I usually am prepared to sit at least one big side spook, possible 360, or crow hop a ride. That is just my horse and his breed, and I think I am fairly adept at it. I have never fallen off from one of those...although I almost did yesterday, read on!

Monting from the "off" side. I don't use a mounting block too often, but wanted to start that new experience with a nice leg up!

The three of us decided to head out into the back 40 where we often ride, it offers lots of trees, and just a nice ride. There are some super nice paths to trot or canter and a huge open field for practice and fun. We didn't hit the field due to the wind, but had a nice time the first half of the ride meandering along trails and talking. Lorri's horse Ozzie, (also an AngloArab like Jackson) kept having issues with invisible things on the trail, which Jackson decided not to imitate multiple times, despite being right behind her. That is just Ozzie, and Lorri is such a terrific rider that she is unfazed by her antics.

So we got to the point in the ride where we decided to go at a nice pace and trot for a couple of miles. Through trees, sharp turns, up and down ditches, through water, all kinds of fun stuff. Jackson still wasn't having any part in Ozzie's antics, just being my sane reliable mount. YAY! Then we came around a bush, and Ozzie dropped her left back hip and just moved out to the side. Huge side spook, or whatever you want to call it! Assuming Jackson was not going to imitate it, I didn't expect it, but I guess the back burner in my mind said, "Hang on!" cause darned if Jackson didn't imitate the very same movement! I sat it and lost a stirrup, but I was thinking while it happened, "Hmmm. What's the best way to fall off here?" I have less weight and more inner core muscles to thank, (or heck, maybe just luck) for sticking it! And then the culprit of the spook showed himself. Linda's dog Zelbar had gotten loose and skulked after us, making his appearance known in a sly way...

Linda on Traveler her new 3 year old QH/TB

So, once that got sorted out we had a pleasureable, uneventful rest of our ride. Oz proceeded to make Lorri work, especially when we put Jackson in the lead; she believes that since mares RULE and all geldings DROOL, she should be in the front. She will let Jackson ride abreast of her, but she wants to be in charge. Jackson could care less. He loves to be the one forging the trail, but he gives to bossy mare Oz easily, he just doesn't care that much! Lorri cracked me up. She made a comment, saying, "How do we have the same breed of horse, and yours is so sane? He never spooks!" This was after the spook with the dog, but she is correct. Jackson doesn't have half the issues with MONSTERS that Ozzie does. Who knows? Ozzie is a gem in the arena to take a dressage lesson on, but she can be hell on the trails. Lorri handles her fine, and you can often hear a giggle as they are disappearing around the corner at a full out gallop or some other crazy gait, so I think they are a match made in Heaven! Me, I'll stick to my horse on the trails, and ride Oz in the arena! :)

It was great to finally ride; talk about JONESING for something, and I'm glad that we still had fun in spite of that infernal blasting wind!

OOPS! Once again forgot to take my camera out when we were on the trail, I'm a bad blogger! You'll have to settle for the before the ride pics, which Lorri missed as she was tacking up! Next time!