Riding into the Sunset

Is there any better way to end the year than a wonderful ride at the beach? I can't think of any. We almost didn't go. Amy had emailed me to ask if I wanted to ride on the 31st but after listening to the weather forecast, she sent me a text saying she and Judy had decided not to ride as it was going to be too cold. I sent her a text back calling her a wimp. A short while later she sent replied that she and Judy had decided to ride after all as she could not sleep knowing I'd called her a wimp. HA! 

It was indeed going to be a cold day only in the 20's. We just hoped there would be little to no wind. We met at Popham beach around 1:00 pm. As luck would have it, there indeed was very little wind. We were all well dressed for the cold and we ended up having a wonderful ride. I'm so glad we went. It was Judy's first time riding at the beach. And it was Amy's mules first time at the beach. Mule and horses were all very good. We rode until nearly sunset. 

Warm December Ride at the Basin

I haven't had the chance to ride a lot this December. But, that normal as it's the busy time at work and I've also been very busy with horse hair jewelry orders. Cierra and I have gotten in a few quick bareback rides in the woods behind my house. Then it was icy so the footing wasn't good for riding for a week or so. But, the past few days have been warm and we had quite a bit of rain which melted all the ice and most of the snow.

Linda emailed me on Thursday or Friday to see if I could ride at the beach on Sunday. Cierra and I could both go so. Low tide was at 10:00 am. Sunday morning turned out to be rainy but was going to clear around noon time so we changed our plans and instead met in Phippsburg to ride in the Basin at 1:00 pm. 

It stayed overcast but was quite warm and we had the most wonderful ride.  It was just so good to get out and the horses seemed to be as happy as we to be out. We did quite a bit of trotting and got in a few nice long canters. We were even able to go into the pond. A real treat for a late December day! 

Bare Toes and Snowy Poses

On two occasions recently, Wanda Clowater of Clowater Art and Photography has been to my home. The first time for my friend Cierra's senior photo shoot and I was able to take the opportunity to get a few photos of me and Marie also. As always, Wanda's photos are wonderful and I just love them. And then when Wanda stopped by the other day to drop off Cierra's pictures, she took some pictures of Cierra and I riding in the snow. Again, such wonderful photos. Thank you Wanda!

Winter Fun!

Late Day Bradbury Ride

I wanted to ride today but had originally planned to do some other things. I contacted Amy as she and Tracy had planned to go riding at the beach. Well, their plan changed as Amy didn't think she was going to have her truck today. But, it turned out she did have her truck to use. We sent texts messages back and forth multiple times, "do you want to ride", " Well, maybe". "Where could we go?" and so it went for a while. It was also a cold day (high temp was about 38 degrees) and mostly overcast so not a very inviting day for riding. After much hemming and hawing, we finally decided we would ride. At first we discussed riding at the Kennebec Highlands but neither of us know the trails there or how the footing would be with the bit of snow we've had. We finally agreed on riding at Bradbury Mt. in Pownal and that she would pick me and Marie up at Exit 43 truck stop in Richmond. By the time we got to Bradbury and ready to ride, it was just a little after 2:00 pm. I wanted to take a loop I'd done recently with Susie and Wanda but wasn't sure I'd remember the way and get us back before dark. Amy decided to trust me so off we went. Amy's daughter Sierra was riding their new Arab mule MissFire and Sierra's friend Brooke was riding Amy's mule Annabelle. 

We headed right up to the summit first. There were a lot of people on the trails today. Many hikers a few bikers and even one man on a unicycle.The trails are pretty rough. Not overly hard for a mountain bike but I can't imagine doing them on a unicycle. When riding within the park boundaries, if your horses poop on the trail, you have to kick the poop off the trail. Marie never pooped once in the park. MissFire and Annabelle each pooped once. Amy's Washburn pooped like 8 times. Amy got a good work out with dismounting doing the poop kicking dance and mounting again. Much to my relief I did remember the loop trail I wanted to do and got us back to the trailer just in time. I'll admit I was a little naggy throughout the ride whenever we stopped for anything worried we not make it back before dark but they all forgave me as they didn't want to be riding in the dark either. We had a really fun ride and I'm glad we went.

Walking Marie across checking to see if it was slippery with the snow on the bridge. 

There wasn't much snow in the woods except for this one section along the side of a hill.