Wandering at Will

I slept in this morning, then did a bit of house work before heading over to the barn. It was quite warm today but I knew it would be comfortable in the forest. Lily seemed to be ready for an adventure when I got there. She eagerly met me in the barn and stood quietly to be groomed and tacked up.

I had absolutely no plan on where I was going to ride or for how long. I was just going to wing it. Before mounting up, I did a bit of practicing with Lily on trotting in hand. She thought that was kind of stupid but when she finally figured out there were treats involved, she decided to humor me. I mounted up and practiced side passing. It took a few tries but Lily seemed to be getting the idea. I rode out the north trail and Lily was a tiny big jiggy right at the start but settled right down within less than 1/4 mile. I rode up to Black's Cabin as I knew there would likely be a lot of people there being a holiday weekend. And I was right. I tied Lily up, took a few photos and talked with a group just getting ready to ride out. There were 4 mule riders in this group that had ridden out of High Knob. I asked if I could tag along with them for a while and they said yes.

 I mounted back up and followed the group at the back. The group was moving slower than Lily likes to walk but she is so very good about chilling out and just going whatever speed the equine in front of her is going. The other mule were also wanting to move a bit faster so the group split up and we 5 mule riders went on ahead. We rode along the creek and got onto trail 180 into Circle Rock and rode on out to the River to River trail. It was a real fun group to ride with and I had a great time.

At the River to River trail, I separated from the group and headed back by myself. Lily didn't hesitate for a moment leaving the others. She really seems to enjoy it when it's just the two of us. I rode east down the River to River to trail 185. I rode that for a while then sidetracked and just took whatever trail I saw that I wanted to go on following some very pretty bluffs for a while. I finally ended up back on trail 185 and took that back towards home and cut up over a steep hill that comes out on the Black's Cabin road and came home that way. Lily is turning into a great trail partner. I haven't enjoyed riding this much since Luke mule passed away. Lily and I did about 10 miles and it was a wonderful ride. It's still so hard to believe sometimes that I have such great riding right from my home.