Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Saturday morning didn't come quickly enough for me; I saddled up while
Judy slept in.  Wabi looked at us walk away, but another hay bag was all
he needed to keep him happy.  Day two started out down the same dirt
road, but unfortunately we had to stay on the roads for a long time.   I
rode along with Mike Bernsten and Rick Gomez for a while, Mike was
riding his wife's horse with the blue eye.  We commented on how cool it
was that these wife's let us hubby's ride their horses.   The forest
roads led to a serious jeep road downhill that was pretty torn up, it
dumped us out into a nice creek where the horses took a drink.  I
stepped into the creek while giving the appy his salts, now my foot was
wet.  Only one. Walk, squish. Walk, squish.  I would be out of balance
on the horse until the water all drained out of my trail runner.
Warpaint didn't mind. 
           A long, slow climb led us through lots of houses that would
have a heck of a time with this road in the winter.  You could see
fossilized mud puddles that had to have been pretty drastic when wet.  I
could just see the stuck cars buried up to their axles.   The
prehistoric mud road led us all the way to this huge reservoir where
people were waterskiing already.  A quick water stop and then the slick
road.  We had to lead up a hill along side a paved road that was by far
the most slippery thing I have ever set hoof on.   It was fine for my
rubber shoes, but put a horseshoe on that and it looked like an Olympic
ice rink, only on a steep hill.  If a horse took a bad step on the
pavement on the top of that hill, it would probably ski down a quarter
of a mile before stopping!  Once past the slick road we started up a
serious climb on a single track trail called Anderson hill or something.
Anderson is a madman!  How could he have found this trail on a horse?
What a cool climb.  It was steep, somewhat aggressive, but really neat.
Up a thousand feet or so to water stop, and then nice trotting through
the trees along side the highway.   It took me 5 minutes to cross the
stupid road for all the cars, there ware 10 horses all bunched up when
we finally got to go.  Perfect, just what Warpaint needs.  Now it is
race time along the other side of the road all the way back down to the
vet check.  The mighty App breezed through the check, and after and the
short hold, we were back on our way, all by ourselves in the forest.   I
had not ridden this day before, I had heard this loop was kind of
strange.  It was really nice, lots of single track!  I caught and passed
Rebecca and her gang, silently hoping she might feed me dinner later.
(These are the guys who eat better at rides than most people do in
restaurants)   We came to a mile or more of hard gravel downhill roads,
so I hopped off and just walked for a half hour or so.  It was nice-
just walking along in the shade, all alone in the woods with the War
Pony.  You get to listen to the forest sounds and not think about work.
This is good for the soul.  More roads led through meadows and forests,
really pretty.  We stopped and I let him graze in a lush meadow for 15
minutes or so, we never even saw another horse.  We eventually got back
to the vet check along the highway for our hour hold, I sat in the grass
eating while he chowed down his goodies.    It's such a good feeling
sitting in a check with a happy, healthy horse.  You talk to your
friends, you eat your lunch, you wish the hour would end so you can get
going again! 
           The next 4 miles or so are one of the ride's highlights.
Amazing single track winds through the forest, right along the highway,
but you have to slow down to cross about 20 driveways along the way.
This is the kind of trail Warpaint lives for- he just motors through the
trees.  He doesn't need another horse, he just boogies on his own.  Away
from camp, towards camp, up hills, down hills, whatever.  The highway
crossing came way too early, now it was just another few miles of
single-track back to camp, including a long, slow climb up to the ridge.
We made it in around 3pm or so for another splendid ride.  Wabi was
happy to see Warpaint, but once we gave Wabi some hay, he shuts right
up.  He knows his priorities!

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