Wednesday, November 23, 2011 - Ride Day at Cheraw

At last, the weather was nice enough (it has been too cold to ride) to go for a ride. Apparently there is only basic trail with lots of criss-crossing, but all we did was stay on the main trail, which was just about a five or six mile loop. It was mostly in the woods, and the footing was good, no stones, mostly hard dirt with some sand. I still have some residual pain in my side from the fall I took, so all I wanted to do today was walk. After a couple of miles, though, Apollo wanted to do something more, and at one point he suddenly kicked up without warning and jumped a few steps. Fortunately, I managed to stay on, though my side was punished in the process. Hubby’s mare followed suite without warning, and Hubby ended up over the saddle and somehow managed to hang onto Clio’s neck, which fortunately broke his fall almost entirely. It was rather amusing, really, when I look back and saw him hanging like a monkey on the underside of Clio’s neck. Then he just dropped his legs, though he lost his balance and ended up sitting on the ground for a minute gathering his wits. No explanation from the horses as to their flighty behavior, they just stood there calmly. Well, we got back up again and carried on for awhile, until we came to a straightaway that Apollo thought would make a good race track. He leaped again, fortunately forward to I managed to hang on, then I let him run a little before reining him in again. That was it. I climbed down, found a clear spot off the trail, and ran him around in circles for about 10 minutes on the extra line on my McCarty setup. He kicked and galloped and jumped around in one direction, then I had him change directions and he kicked and galloped and jumped around in the other, until he finally wore himself out. I led him back to the trail and we set off again, much subdued. About a mile out, we did it again, not because he seemed as anxious to run off again, but just to make sure he didn’t get any ideas like that. We managed to make it back to the camp in good shape, and no one worse for the wear. Other than that, it was a good couple of hours. Trails not very exciting, they just kind of weave in and out of the trees, though they are pretty well marked, albeit a pretty short trip. Fine for what we needed, but for a long stay of riding, not so much. At least we got them back on the trail, and we both survived, which is always the goal!