Me and my riding partner/ best friend decided to go hit the trails at
Yankee Springs (Michigan) today, our goal was 15 miles and about 5 mph. We're
training for a 25 mile endurance ride in 3 weeks and were trying to get a good
idea of how ready our horses were. We got there and unloaded and sat drinking
cappucino and chatting with the ranger that stopped by. Tack up and head out
onto the 6 mile trail, the horses were doing great, pulling a little but
trotting and cantering when we wanted and stopping when we wanted also. Lots of
branches and trees down on the trail providing much jumping action too. Wait a
minute, whats the lake???? The map doesn't show the trail near a lake, uhoh it
says ski trail now, turn around and head back at a much slower pace looking for
the missed trail. The horses are still pulling and ready to run, we finally
find the trail and head back out, theres no slowing these guys, they want to GO
so bad! Made almost to the end of the 6 miles and we ended up on a wrong turn
and doing the 4 mile loops also. Back to the trailer, we loosen girths, put hay
and sloppy beet pulp in front of the horses and relax for 30 mins. We checked
heartrates too and after all that they were down to 46 in less than 10 minutes.
Ok we're getting sore but Casino and Mon Ami are ready to go still so we decide
to do the 9 mile loop also. Tighten up girths and away we go, it went pretty
uneventful, trotting and cantering mostly with the occasional jump. There is a
nice stretch of dirt/sand road so we decide to race the horses, on our second
race we crested a hill to find a pickup truck coming at us on the other side. I
never knew the horses could corner that quick! I think the driver had to go
change after that close call. Adrenaline racing we get back on the trail and
pick up a good pace again. It was pretty uneventful for the rest. We got back to
the trailer, untacked, fed more hay and water and took heartrates. Approx 5 mins
after cantering into camp and dismounting they were in the mid 50's. I am
sore but feel so good at the same time! Bring on the ride!
