Fall Ride at Bradbury Mt.

Susie, Wanda and I had a lovely ride in Pownal at Bradbury Mt. Wanda doesn't have a horse at this time so Susie let her ride her horse Dixie. It was a beautiful day and we had the most lovely ride. 

 

Acorn Hill Stable Judged Trail Ride

Cierra, Mary-Jo and I went to a fun judged trail ride today at Acorn Hill Farm in Whitefield, ME. It was a brisk cool morning and  we headed out bundled up in layers. I've never been to Acorn Hill Farm but had no trouble finding it. We arrived early enough to take our time getting ready to ride. There was a great turn out for the ride with 63 entries. Two distance options were offered for the ride. A 4 mile and an 8 mile ride. Both distances would have the same obstacles to do.There were two places were the judged obstacles were. One place out on the trail, the rest back at the stable at the end of the ride. 

The ride had hot and cold drinks and some wonderful breakfast goodies. We relaxed enjoyed admiring the horses at the stable, then got ready to ride. Tinkerbell was a little excited but behaving well. Marie was relaxed and Arthur was being quite good also. Once out on the trail, all three horses settled down nicely. Cierra and Tinkerbell led quite a bit of the ride. The trails were very nice. There was a some muddy spots on the first half of the ride but nothing too bad. When we got to the first set of obstacles, there was a large group of riders waiting to go through them. We had quite a long wait here to go though the obstacles but Marie, Arthur and Tinkerbell were all super good about the crowd of horses and the long wait. 

The first obstacle was going down a steep hill. We actually did that before getting in line to do the rest of the obstacles. The 2nd obstacle was a rope gate. 3rd we had to trot a serpentine though a line of three barrels. 4th was to walk through a box with a tarp in it. 5th we had to walk between tires set vertically in the ground. 6th and last was to side pass over poles set in a V. Cierra went through first and did very well. Tink lost concentration on the side pass but after working at it for a minute, they got through. Mary-Jo and Arthur did well also. Marie was a good girl and got through all obstacles fine. 

The trail back to the stable was very nice. We had some nice places to do some trotting and a bit of cantering. Cierra cantered up ahead of Mary-Jo and me at one point and Marie had a small melt down and threw in a few bucks but nothing serious. Back at the stable were the remainder of the obstacles set up in the arena. Cierra went first and the 1st obstacle was to canter a figure 8. Tink did this very nicely. 2nd was to trot over some ground poles which Tink also did nicely. 3rd was to back through an L. Just as Cierra was getting Tink set up for this, a large group of riders came galloping down the road startling Tink and Cierra was not able to get her to back the L. 4th and last obstacle was to pick up an object hanging of a pole and hang it on another pole. Tink still could not concentrate on obstacles and Cierra appropriately didn't push her. Mary-Jo and Arthur did well through the obstacles and Marie did a nice job overall. We actually managed to keep up a canter though the figure 8. It wasn't pretty and there was no lead change but she did her best and did maintain the canter. We did step on a pole backing the L but it was a pole that was already out of place so not really her fault. 

Once done, we untacked our horses and tied them to the trailer with lots of hay. Mary-Jo tied Arthur to my trailer also so he would have company. We then went into the barn for a lovely lunch that the ride provided. Then we all gathered for awards. Marie won the "vintage horse" division. We got a nice certificate and a folding chair. It was a fun ride and we were happy to hear that the stable is planning to do more rides next year. 

Riding in the Basin

Today a group of us met and went riding in Phippsburg in the Basin. It was a lovely day. Barbara and Mary-Ann came up from Bath. Susie came and brought both of her horses and Leesa rode Dixie. It was a quiet and relaxing ride. We stopped and had lunch on top of Fuller's Mountain. 

Androscoggin Riverland State Park

Today, since I finally have my truck back, Cierra and I trailered out to Androscoggin Riverland State Park. Cierra has never been here before and I was sure she would enjoy it. We stopped at Gowell's store on the way and got sandwiches to eat on the way and some snacks for the trail. The day started out cloudy and chilly. It stayed cool but by the time we arrived at the park, the sun was coming out and it turned out to be a beautiful day. It was 1:00 pm when we headed out on the trail. On this trail there are a ton of bridges but this would not be an issues with either of our horses. Some sections of the trail are rocky but we trotted and even cantered when we could. When we got to the turn in the trail where you head right to the loop or can go straight ahead to the river, we noticed Tink had lost a rear boot. We headed back to find it but I decided to go to the river first. Because if Tink had lost the boot very far back, we would not have time to make the loop ride and would have to go back to the trailer. So, we rode down to the river and had fun playing in the water there. The river was very calm today and it was beautiful how the trees were reflecting on the water in all their changing colors. We rode back to the intersection where there is the foundation of an old farm house. We checked it out and took a few pictures here. We then headed back the way we came and were delighted to find Tink's boot not too far down the trail. I hopped off, retrieved the boot and put it back on Tink and we were on our way again. Marie was full of energy today and was leading the way in her competition trot. We made the loop in good time. This trail is very lovely. We had a few ATV's pass us and all were very considerate. Neither of our horses mind them anyway. At one point heading back, I asked Marie to canter and she dug in and took off like a shot and threw in a good buck! Silly girl! We took a side trail that brought us to the picnic/camping area along the river's edge. Again, it was just so beautiful along the river today. When we got back to the trailer, we brushed the horses and put coolers on them as they were a little sweaty. As Cierra was putting the cooler on Tink, someone set off a TON of firecrackers or some similar sounding fireworks across the street that also had a lot of high pitched whistling. It popping and whistling was very loud and went on for a long time. This really scared Tink but good girl that she is, though she did dance around a bit she did not pull away from the trailer. I was really surprised that Marie didn't really react to the noise but she didn't seem to care. Yet another great ride.

The Overpass

Cierra and I had a very nice ride starting from my house today. It was a lovely day and we headed out with some marking tape to mark some new trail. I didn't have much tape but marked as far as I could and was pleased to come out right where I was hoping to come out onto the main trail. We then took another old trail I haven't done in years that dead ends. But where the trail ends the woods are very clear and easy to ride though so again we just rode in the direction I knew the main trail was and came to it with no problem. Since we were on such a good roll of finding our way around on old and non existent trail, I decided to try one more old trial that I had a hard time getting through on the last time I'd ridden it. There had been a number of large trees down along it but I figured we'd try it anyway. Well, much to my delight, though the trail doesn't look like it's used that much, it's been all cleaned up and we were able to ride all the way out near the overpass. From there we just had to do a very short section on tar to get to another trail to take us home. Since we were in sight of the overpass we decided to ride over it to see how Tinkerbell would handle it. It didn't bother her at all. Cierra wasn't thrilled with it but Tink as great. The only thing she really looked at was the metal expansion strips on each side as most horses do. What Tink didn't like were the big emu's on the other side of the overpass. We had a great ride as usual.