RE: Bog Monsters

[Sbeseda@aol.com]

I talked with a local resident (he is not an expert in soil
construction) about bogs in the Athens area. There are several
types of sand. One type of sand is a very fine sand called Sugar
sand. It is found in pockets in the Athens area. These pockets get
covered with a harder surface sand. As the horse traffic breaks down
the supporting surface a bog will result. The surface sand makes it
difficult to determine bog locations. Front runners do not have
as much trouble with bogs as us middle and end runners. 

In the Sandblast ride, very shortly after our experience the trail
was re-routed to avoid the bog.

Bogs must occur on other rides so I am interested in how to manage
the experience. I got one suggestion to teach a horse to walk through
a bog, not leap frantically about. This makes sense to me. Teach your
horse to walk through a bog or stay with the front runners.

Scott