Louise Townsend's Ride

Today was Lily's (formally Nell) first "organized" ride. We were heading up to Louise Townsend's home in Clinton to ride. I've done this ride a number of times and it's always a fun time. My friend, Kathie from NH, came and spent the night at my house Saturday night so she could go to the ride. She rode one of Amy's mules, Misfire. Cierra also went with me. Ride time is usually 9:30 am. But, it was going to be a hot day so Amy and I talked Saturday and decided to try to get there in time to head out on the trail at 8:30 am. Kathie had I have not seen each other in a while so we were up until about 2 am talking. But, we still managed to get up at 5:30 am to take care of the animals and get ready in time. We met Linda Temple at Exit 43 truck stop and followed her up to the ride. Cierra jumped in the truck with her so she would have company on the way up. It is about an hour drive to Louise's place. Bonnie had originally planned to come with Linda but decided it was going to be too hot to ride and changed her mind about going.

We got to Louise's in good time and parked in the big field in front of her house. Cierra and I unloaded Tink and Lily and tied them to the trailer with their hay bags. They were both quiet and happy to stand and munch their hay. We went up to the house and registered for the ride. Jim and Mary Ellen were there helping Louise put on the ride. I was so happy to see them, it has been about three years since the last time I've seen them! Lily was quiet while I groomed her and tacked her up. It took a minute to get Lily to stand at the mounting block. By then, the group was already heading out so we started out near the back. We had to ride around the edge of a large field. This turned out to be a bit of a mental overload for Lily. She started to dance around and was like sitting on a ticking time bomb. I hopped off her and led her the rest of the way around the field to where the trail went into the woods. The whole group was kind enough to stop and wait for me to get on. Lilly was dancing around a bit and it took a few minutes. Once I was on, I put Lily right near the front. She was wonderful the rest of the ride.

The group split up into smaller groups as we went along. Some of the horses were getting a bit exited when we were moving faster in a large group. Kathie on Misfire ended up behind me. Lily was walking out pretty fast. The trail was a mix of dirt roads, single track trail, paved road and fields. Lily was fine with the traffic. Our group ended up me, Cierra, Linda and Judy. When we came to the Wright's farm and to where we had to ride by the cow barns, all four equines just froze and none wanted to go by. Cierra was able to get Tinkerbell to lead and the rest reluctantly followed. Lily was a bit boogered going by but didn't do anything bad at all. I was very pleased with how she handled it.

Once we got back to the farm, we tied Lily and Tink to the trailer with plenty of hay. Despite the heat, there was a nice breeze making it comfortable. Louise provided a meal and we sat and enjoyed that and each other's company under her huge maple trees in her front yard. It was a wonderful day.