Hollis Benefit Ride

Today we went to a ride at the Hollis Equestrian Park. The ride was a benefit ride for the Maine Mounted Search and Rescue and the Ever After Mustang Rescue. It was a cool morning and we had to make an early start. I wasn't sure if I was even going the night before the ride as my mom went into the hospital. But, she was doing fine and at the last minute I decided to go. I picked up Cierra and Tinkerbell at around 7:00 am and we headed out. I trusted my GPS to get there and for once it didn't let me down. Well, there was one moment in Portland that it mislead me but that was quickly and easily corrected. Joanie and Nancy were also coming to the ride. Nancy is leasing my mare Marie for a little while. Marie had left my farm just the previous night and Luke is quite heart broken about it. I figured he's be a nut when Nancy arrived with her this morning. We arrived before Joanie and Nancy. We unloaded Luke and Tink, who had emptied a bag of hay on the ride down! We refilled Tinks bag and tied them to the trailer to keep munching hay while we registered. There were donuts, pastries and coffee in the office for us. Once registered, we went back to the trailer to groom Luke and Tink. The woman parked beside me had not brought any extra hay with her and her horse was a bit restless. I put a flake of my hay in a spare hay bag and let her have it for her horse. 

Joanie and Nancy pulled in and parked behind my trailer. Luke had no idea that Marie had arrived. It was quite a while before he did realize it. And much to my surprise, though he was happy to see her, it was Tinkerbell that got all excited about Marie being there. I didn't know Tink liked Marie that much. There was a 12 mile and a 14 mile distance offered. We chose the 12 mile ride as Joanie is still getting her leased horse Goodie in shape. It was a absolutely lovely ride! The trails were very well marked and easy to follow. Luke took the lead right off and for a short time at the start of the ride, Cierra and I got ahead of Joanie and Nancy. We did a nice long canter on a dirt road. Once again, Luke lost the race against Tinkerbell...... When Joanie and Nancy caught up to us, we stayed together the rest of the ride. In a few places, Joanie took the lead with Goodie and she was very good about that. At one point when some horses passed us, Tinkerbell took the lead as she really wanted to keep up with those horses. 

The ride was very easy terrain wise so we could have done the longer ride. But, it was only 4 miles difference so we didn't mind. When we rode back into the field at the Equestrian park, there are some jumps set up and I headed Luke over a low one which he happily hopped over with Cierra and Tink right behind me. We tied Luke and Tink to the trailer and filled Tink's hay bag yet again! She was chowing down on hay like she'd never been fed before! The ride provided us with a wonderful meal. Well, there were too many types of baked beans and chili for my liking but there was plenty of other delicious things to make up for it. And many types of home made deserts also! The sun had finally come out but the wind had picked up. We were sitting at a picnic table, relaxing, letting the food settle and enjoying each other's company when suddenly a gust of wind picked up Joanie's place, all soaked with bean juice, and blew it straight up into Cierra's face! By some stroke of luck, the plate flipped over at the last second so the clean back side is what hit Cierra! Tinkerbell had run out of hay again and I didn't want to give her any more as I wanted to save the last flakes for the ride home. After a few unhappy minutes of pawing, she decided to accept her fate and was quiet. It was a great day, a great ride, with great food and great friends and there were even door prizes too boot. I won some gift certificates for a couple restaurants in Lewiston/Auburn. Cierra got a horse calendar. 

We got back to Upper Pond Stable around 3:30 pm. Cierra's mom couldn't pick her up until after Turn in time at 5:00 pm. So, I took Cierra over to my house so she could meet the new mule, Buckshot (aka, Big Spot) Cierra wanted to see how Luke felt bareback so she stood on a rock and tried to jump up on him. The first leap startled Luke a little but then he totally ignored all the following attempts by Cierra to mount him. It was so funny watching it as she hurled herself at him and he just quietly munched grass like nothing was going on. I finally gave her a leg up.