Lily, The Lovely Bright Molly: The Balsams and Colebrook September 2011

Grafton Notch, ME

This weekend was supposed to be the GMHA 3 day 100 mile competitive trail ride. Susie and I had planned to go and had worked hard all year conditioning for this ride. It is a tough one in the hills of VT. We both entered the ride and were so excited about going. But, as we all know, even the best laid plans can go awry. This time it was mother nature that changed our plans when VT was hard hit by flooding from hurricane Irene just a week before the ride.

So, I called my friends Jim and Mary Ellen who have a home in Colebrook NH to see if they were going to be there and if they wanted some company. It all worked out so Susie and I went there instead. We headed up Friday morning. Susie picked me and Louie up. It was a lovely day. Sunny and in the high 70's. On the way to Colebrook, we met Jim and Mary Ellen at the Balsams Resort to ride the trails there. This was a place where neither Susie and I had ridden and what a hidden treasure this is for riding! There are over 30 miles of trails and what fabulous trails they are. We had a wonderful time riding there. The footing on the trails are great but challenging with the hills. Louie did just wonderful keeping up, even on the hills, with no trouble. And it was so good seeing Jim riding Shaker again. There had been some concerns earlier in the year that Shaker would have to be retired due to lameness issues. But, it was found out this was due to having Cushings and with medications, Shaker is sound again and doing well. We got in a lot of nice long gallops. On one long grassy uphill trail that we galloped up, there were drainage dip every so often. The equines were jumping them and I felt like we were at a steeple chase! The view from the top of Abaniki mountain down on the resort and through Dixville notch was fabulous. We rode a trail that follows a canal that brings water down to the resort from Mud Pond. In one spot there is a tunnel that was chiseled through a section of the mountain for the water to go through. We stopped at Mud pond to let the equines drink and Jim poured water over them with a collapsible bucket he'd brought along. Louie was not sure he liked this but tolerated it without much fuss. There were tons of trails we didn't have time to explore so I can't wait to ride there again.

Mary Ellen on Hillbilly, Jim on Shaker and Cindy on Louie riding by the Balsams Grand Resort Panorama golf course

Jim on Shaker

Riding along the canal trail at the Balsams Cindy on Louie, Susie on Spark and Jim on Shaker

Galloping down the trail, Cindy on Louie, Susie on Spark and Jim in the lead on Shaker

Mary Ellen on Hillbilly, Jim on Shaker and Cindy on Louie on the Balsams Resort trails

Mud Pond at the Balsams. Cindy on Louie and Susie on Spark drinking

Mud Pond at the Balsams. Cindy on Louie and Susie on Spark

Mud Pond, Cindy on Louie

Mud Pond. Cindy on Louie and Jim dumping water on him to cool him off

Mud Pond, Mary Ellen on Hillbilly, Jim and Susie on Spark

Jim on Shaker on the way up Abaniki Mountain

Cindy on Louie enjoying the view on the Balsam Resort trails

Cindy on Louie on the Balsams Resort trails

Top of Abaniki Mountain. Cindy on Louie and Susie on Spark

Looking down on the Balsams from the top of Abaniki Mountain (2723 ft)

Mary Ellen with Hillbilly on top of Abaniki Mountain

Cindy on Louie at the Balsams on Abaniki Mountain

Cindy on Louie, Mary Ellen on Hillbilly and Jim on Shaker. Abeniki Mountain at the Balsams Resort.

Heading down from Abaniki mountain. Jim on Shaker, Cindy on Louie and Susie on Spark

Cindy on Louie and Jim with Shaker coming down Abaniki Mountain

Cindy on Louie, Susie on Spark and Jim with Shaker taking a break coming down Abaniki Mountain

Just after we pulled out of the farm where we had parked to ride at the Balsams, Susie and I heard a loud snap from the trailer. It didn't sound good so we pulled over as soon as we could and Susie got out and walked around the trailer to see if everything was ok. She didn't see any problems so we continued on to Jim and Mary Ellen's home which is only a 15 minute drive. When I got out of the truck there, I dropped the grill at Louie's window but he did not stick his head right out as usual. I took a look in and noticed that something did not look right. Susie's trailer is a 3 horse slant load and Louie was loaded in the stall at the back. He could not get to the window as the tack room wall was in the way! ACK! I know THAT is not right! I hurried to the back of the trailer and opened the door and see a very squashed Louie. A saddle had fallen off the rack against the tack room wall. The pins holding the wall top and bottom and popped out of place and the whole was had swung in on Louie squashing him against the stall divider. He was standing there quietly but was backed up hard against the rear strap. We had to push in forward to release the tension on the strap before we could unhook it. There wasn't much room for him to move but he did it and we got him out. He was thankfully unharmed and didn't seemed at all bothered by any of this. PHEW!

We put Louie and Spark in a pasture together. We kept a careful eye on them for a while as we didn't know how they would be together. The got along wonderfully and were good together all weekend. Susie was sleeping in her trailer as it is a nice living quarter trailer. I settled into the spare room in the house. I just love Jim and Mary Ellen's home in Colebrook. The tun outs come right up to the porch so you can sit out relaxing and the horses and mule come right up and hang out with you. What is even more fun is the barn is attached to the house and the spare room is partially over the stalls. There is a window next to the bed and you can look right down into the stalls and watch the horses. I want a house like this!!!

After we had the equines and ourselves settled in, we relaxed on the porch. Mary Ellen put out some chip, crackers and dips. We gabbed for a while then played a game of scrabble. A young girl, Emily, that lives next door came over and played with us. Mary Ellen had prepared a stir fry for supper that she cooked on the grill and Susie had baked some brownies for desert. When we fed the "boys" that evening, Louie had a slight melt down when I led him away from his new best friend Spark. I didn't want him to think it was ok to act like this so I did not let him go right back to Spark. AND, we were only a short distance away! It took a while to get Louie to eat his supper but he eventually did. Silly boy!

I woke up during the night hearing a strange sound. I looked down into the stall from the window beside my bed (how cool is that!!!) and saw it was just Shaker scraping a salt block with is teeth. Then I woke later to a thunder storm. It was poring rain. I quickly went back to sleep both times and slept well. I was up fairly early as was Jim who was busy doing ..... whatever he was doing..... I wasn't really paying attention as I made a cup of tea and went out to sit on the porch and watch the horses and mule. Soon everyone else was up and we all watched the sky as we had breakfast and planned our ride for the day. It was not raining but sure did not look very promising. We decided we were going to ride and take our chances. It stayed cloudy all morning but it did not rain and we had a wonderful ride. We came back to the house and Mary Ellen made us ham and eggs for lunch. Then Jim drove Susie and I into town so we could buy something to cook for supper. Susie and I wanted to cook supper for Jim and Mary Ellen. When we got back from the store, we went out for another ride. It had gotten very warm and humid so we stayed to trails in the woods where it was shady. The trails were lovely but tough so we it was a slower ride. Just perfect for a warm evening. Once back to the house, we fed the equines and settled them for the night then Susie and I made supper. Well, more Susie then I. I am not much of a cook so was of limited help here. I helped Jim shuck the corn on the cob and put that on the stove along with the green beans. I did cut up some cheese and set out cheese and crackers. (See, I can do something.......) Susie cooked barbecue chicken on the grill. It was all delicious, even if the beans did have tails...... (insider story). We had purchased some ice cream and chocolate sauce to put on the brownies for desert but were so full from supper we never did have this.

Susie and I headed home first thing on Sunday morning. We would have loved to stay longer but both of us had a lot of things to do and we needed to get home. We had a wonderful time though. It is a beautiful place to ride and Jim and Mary Ellen are so much fun to ride with. I hope to be able to go up again this fall.

Jim and Mary Ellen's home in Colebrook