Woke up to the sound of mule bellowing from the campground loop next door, only about 6:00, but I lay in bed for a while longer, until I finally just had to get up, about 7:30 or so. Took care of the animals, feeding and walking, finding Hubby getting up by the time I finished. We had our bacon and egg breakfast, then spent some time trimming the horses' feet (Clio's wouldn't fit in her boots properly, and Apollo's hooves grow so fast I can't let them go any longer). I also tried out my new saddle-shaped bareback pad that was waiting for us when we got home, so I had to switch out the girth and adjust the stirrups, which had a rather strange plastic setup that didn't do a very good job of keeping them in place. Every time I put weight on them they slipped, so I had to mess with that a bit until they eventually stayed pretty well. Finally, we headed off down the nearest trail, called Rangers' Loop. Oddly, on the map it says the trail is 3.5 miles long, but on the trailhead sign it says 7.1 miles long, so not knowing added a bit of mystery. Shortly after the start, however, Apollo gave me a fright. Something caught his eye and he wheeled around suddenly, and not having a horn (although there's a little loop to grab, reports on the internet said it would rip easily), so I didn't feel real confident in that, I eventually managed to grab a handful of mane, just in time to keep me from losing my balance, as the girth had already loosened up dramatically (which it always does, just not usually this early in the ride) so my saddle pad slid a bit, plus by stirrups moved a bit, and my feet couldn't stay in the stirrups. I dismounted, raised the stirrups and tried to lock them in better before heading back down the trail, past the scary stump that had so tortured Apollo... Anyway, we followed the arrows, up and down some nice hills through mostly forest. I was quite surprised at how unused the trail seemed to be, with lots of broken limbs blocking the trail, and areas where the undergrowth was brushing us as we passed. I was only wearing a tank top, I would have worn sleeves if I had known the trail would be so narrow in places! Anyway, about a half hour into the trip, we went down a pretty steep and narrow part of the trail, then through a little muck at the bottom, which Apollo took as a personal affront, and to show his displeasure (and because he was tired of just walking), he decided to gallop away from it, uphill, winding around trees, sometimes on the trail, sometimes not, all the while I've grabbed his mane and am hanging on for dear life, hoping he doesn't rub me off on one the trees he was skimming by! With one hand in the mane, the other hand just didn't seem to know what to do with the reins except let him go, so that's what we did. Eventually he galloped off the trail and had to stop as the woods became too thick for him to go any further. Hubby was just behind me at a somewhat more controlled canter, but we had to backtrack about 5 yards to get back on the trail. Rather exciting, and a good test of my near stirrup-less bareback skills, which turned out to be better than I thought. I really like the feel of this "saddle" though, Apollo is a really wide and flat horse, so his back is actually more comfortable than my old saddle, and I can get a real feel for his gait this way. I also think he seems more comfortable without any kind of tree or hard structure against him. Once I gain a little more experience and confidence in the equipment, in particular, solve the stirrup problem, this should be a really good way to ride. I had also read on the internet (and also turned out to be true) about the fact that because there are no fenders, the stirrup rings rub badly again your calves and that you needed chaps to solve the problem, but Hubby suggested I move my lambskin saddle pad from the old saddle, which covers all the way down to the top of the actual stirrups, and should cover up the problem, which I thought was a great idea, since I think will be my saddle of choice for awhile. We finished making our way around the loop, and arrived back at the campground with no further incidents, though we did get a little jog in (the trot was just too bouncy without stirrups steady enough to post in). I'll be ready to canter next time we ride, assuming there's a section of the trail that allows for it. According to my GPS, the whole ride was only 2.49 miles, so I don't know where these other measurements came from! Looking forward to transferring it over to Google Earth and seeing how it matches the actual map, to see if we went wrong, or if the map is just poorly made. Gave the horses a rinse off, tied them on their anchors and tied them to the hitching post so they can enjoy some of this manicured grass, while I refit my new saddle with the lambskin cover and tried to secure the stirrups a bit better. Then a lovely afternoon sitting on my lounger under the awning getting caught up on my blog, while Hubby switched between golf and soccer on the telly. Just about time for our evening routine, cocktail hour is fast approaching!
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