Our riding plans for today changed multiple times over the course of a week or so. We originally thought about going to the Waterford CDR. But, after much thought, we didn't want to spend the money on an entry fee when neither of our horses were really in shape for the speed we'd need to travel for the ride. And I really hate to withdraw Marie off her meds for her to compete legally. So, we then talked about hooking up with Amy Been and doing a longer ride somewhere up her way. She ended up being busy today. And when I hauled my trailer yesterday, something didn't seem right with the trailer breaks. I just got my truck back from the garage and something is still not right. So, I didn't feel it would be safe to haul the horses anyway. So, Cierra and I decided to just ride from my house. We picked up some lunch from Gowell's store, packed up our saddle bags and headed out around noon time. We rode out to the East Cathance Stream near the snowmobile bridge. I just love this spot, it is really beautiful and the perfect place for a picnic. It's about 4 miles from my house. We moved along where we could. The trail is quite rocky but there are places here and there along it that you can get in some trotting and even a little cantering. At one point I had to dismount to move a tree out of the path and had a bit of saddle slippage problem when trying to mount up again. Good old Marie and her barrel type build. When we got to the stream, we tied up the horses and settled down on a big rock beside the stream and tried to enjoy our lunch. I say tried because one we were sitting still, the mosquito's got a bit annoying. So, we ate quickly then spent some time hiking around the area of the stream and climbing the rocks. The horses were both standing pretty quiet despite the mosquito's so we took our time exploring.
When we were ready to head back, we mounted up and rode up the stream as far as we could just to explore some more. Cierra had a good teaching moment with Tinkerbell at a spot where she did not want to lead the way down into the stream. But, Cierra got Tink to trust her and got her in. On the way back, I took an old trail I haven't done in years. It has obviously not been used and was had to get though with downed trees and then a bit of bushwhacking to connect to a regular trail, that also needs some serious trimming. Once back on the main trail we picked up the pace a bit more and had a fun ride back. We did about 9 miles and had a wonderful ride
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