Lost and Found

I had such a wonderful ride today! I met Susie and Terry over in West Bowdoin. Terry was riding Susie's horse Bayzen. We parked on the gas line as we usually do. The weather looked a bit unsettled in the morning so we met at 12:30 pm. It was very nice by then. It was quite warm but not uncomfortable. Susie and Terry were already at our parking spot and tacked up when I arrived. It didn't take me long to get Luke ready. It was the first time Terry has met Luke and she thought he was the most handsome mule she'd ever seen. I'd have to agree with that. We started out by riding down the gas and doing some loop trails off the the left side of the gas line. Then down near the Keay Rd, we crossed over the gas line and and went up the trail that goes by the two gravel pit ponds and took a left on the witch house trail to the Bens Hill Rd.  At this point we decided to try a trail we had not ridden in a long time so we went left down to the Williams Rd. and then right and rode this all the way out to the Maxwell Rd.  and then we took an immediate right onto the trail that used to lead out to a gravel pit on the West Rd. The first part of the trail seems to have not been used in a while but was not hard to follow. Then we came on some very clear trail and this is where we got lost and where the riding really got fun! We followed what looked like the most used trail and passed many nice looking side trails. We rode by the prettiest bog and in the end made a loop. We'd been out for quite a while at this point and I was quite sure of which direction to go to get back to the West Rd. We figured we'd just ride the road back to the trailers. But, before we reached the road we came across two other riders coming towards us. Of course it turned out to be someone that Susie knew. One of the riders, Stephanie, decided to ride with us for a while and show us a trail that went back towards our trailers so we wouldn't have to ride down the paved road. Stephanie turned out to be a wonderful guide and great company. She was riding a nice mare that she had recently purchased from my farrier. Once we were onto a trail we knew, Stephanie headed back for home and we all made promises to meet and ride together again. We rode the trail to the Allen's farm. This is where the other rider lived. Coming through the barnyard there are always spooky equine eating monsters such as a few cows, chickens or dogs. We had passed all this without incident and were just about to the road when Bayzen spooked at something and poor Terry came off and landed hard on her right hip. She was ok but had to sit for a little while to settle down as for a short time she felt a bit sick to her stomach. The Allen's came out and helped us by holding horses and getting Terry water. The Allens offered to trailer our horses back to our trailers but after sitting for a while, Terry said she felt well enough to ride back. It was only a mile or so down the road back. While we were riding down the road, a small dirt bike passed us from behind. It did not slow down at all and buzzed by with that high pitched whiny sound that dirt bikes have. This actually bothered mr. unflappable mule. He did a bit of a dance but nothing too serious. It also spooked Bayzen but Terry handled it fine also. We were soon back at the trailer and all agreed it was a wonderful ride.