Autumn, Best Time To Ride

Well folks, we here in Southeastern Ohio have had one of the best seasons yet to ride. Autumn here has been just divine to trail ride or be outside enjoying the surroundings. I feel very blessed to be healthy and able to be trail riding my mules and mares. Sometimes, we must give thanks to the Lord.

I wanted to first apologize to everyone out there. I started this blog hoping I would contribute something weekly. Well as you can see, I have been not exactly keeping up with that.

Great Seal State Park, in Chillicothe, OH. Wow! What a fabulous place to ride. It really was breathtaking. A little hairy at times trying to navigate through the barely marked trails, that were also completely leaf covered, but luckilily some riders had freshly stirred the leaves so that a faint path was lightly visible. It was the first place to ride in a long time that it felt almost raw and untouched by a lot human intervention. I imagined the Native Americans riding through the same paths that we took at this lovely State Park, and I could see why they also were amazed at their surroundings. I highly recommend visiting this park with very fit equines. I actually did not take my 2 year old Sasha, because I feared it might be too strenuous. I was glad that I did not. I took Coco, my 3 year old buckskin mare and it was really at her limits as well. Maria and Pumpkin, who is our 5 year old molly mule, was just fine. Again, proving again that mules have that fantastic way of conserving their energy with their steady Eddy gaits and their amazing ability to climb up hills at a walk versus horses who have to really push from behind and lunge forward within a canter. We saw tons of deer along with birds and other wildlife
All and all it was a perfect day, with perfect company, and perfectly behaved equines. A very, very special trip for Maria and I.

Morgan Goolsby has been doing a fantastic job starting a couple of our young mares. Crystal our Palamino mare has been under saddle now for about 45 days or so, and has been riding well. She's ready for her first official trail ride real soon. Roxy, a Rocky Mountain, mare has also been started by Morgan and she is really coming around. She is a 14 year old Rocky Mountain that was just a pasture ornament/pasture mate for another Rocky Mountain. She really was almost untouched by human hands. It took awhile to earn her trust and for her to even allow us to catch her and handle her, but with Morgan's hard work and patience she has made her into a responsive and calm little mare. Put together real nice and pretty as a penny!

Nice to be off today, already rode Coco and watered all the mares. Gave a pat and made sure I checked everyone over pretty good. Those darn burdocks get into their manes so bad! Yuck!

Well that's it for now, will be posting pictures of Great Seal soon. Until the next time, enjoy yourselves and praise God for all the beauty around us. dp