To say that the trail map here isn't complete would be the understatement of the year! While it indicates a lot of nice loops, there are countless other trails, wide open and cross-able prairies that make an infinite variety of riding. We started out following a trail I made from Google Earth, and which had a few faded blue paint spots on an occasional tree, but that was about it. The key here is that there are numerous signs indicating numbered points (though a few are missing as indicated by the map), and once you find one of those, you can determined where you are. It's not a huge place, but there is plenty of variety, a lot more trails in the woods than you'd first imagine. Today, though, we headed along the west perimeter, down to the lake, and then east, a bit further than halfway across the park. We ran into a lone cow and her beautiful calf on the trail just after leaving the lake, and though Apollo was startled for a minute, he quickly calmed down, particularly after they left the trail and skedaddled into the brush, which, of course, Apollo took credit for : -). A little further on, we came across a much larger herd of cows, and the road we were one went straight through the middle of them, but the horses obviously remembered earlier training and went straight through them without hardly noticing, yeah! We did a lot of trotting and cantering along the open stretches. Footing was mostly sand and dirt, with just a few places where the sand got uncomfortably deep. We met another rider on the trail, a local gentleman named Wayne, who gave us some tips, and rode with us back to the campground, taking a shortcut I doubt I would have found without his help (though I know I could have found a way back, just not THAT way back. Had a nice chat along the way. One thing I'll say for Texas, everyone we've met here has been very nice, very accommodating, very laid back. The only problem so far were the Texans that didn't bother to clean up the stalls here before we arrived. Anyway, we ended up going over 10.5 miles, in perfect weather, out just about 4 hours. Horses were on their best behavior as well, with Apollo settling down very nicely from the start. After a lengthy discussion with a woman at Tractor Supply the other day (frankly, the first and only person at any Tractor Supply that seemed to know what she was talking about!), we changed the horses feed regime, cutting out the oats, having Apollo eat only hay and a small amount of Purina Enrish 32 balancer, and Clio getting mostly senior feed and some weight builder along with her hay. The results seem to be a calmer gelding, at least. We'll see what else it does over time. Meanwhile, a great day!
To say that the trail map here isn't complete would be the understatement of the year! While it indicates a lot of nice loops, there are countless other trails, wide open and cross-able prairies that make an infinite variety of riding. We started out following a trail I made from Google Earth, and which had a few faded blue paint spots on an occasional tree, but that was about it. The key here is that there are numerous signs indicating numbered points (though a few are missing as indicated by the map), and once you find one of those, you can determined where you are. It's not a huge place, but there is plenty of variety, a lot more trails in the woods than you'd first imagine. Today, though, we headed along the west perimeter, down to the lake, and then east, a bit further than halfway across the park. We ran into a lone cow and her beautiful calf on the trail just after leaving the lake, and though Apollo was startled for a minute, he quickly calmed down, particularly after they left the trail and skedaddled into the brush, which, of course, Apollo took credit for : -). A little further on, we came across a much larger herd of cows, and the road we were one went straight through the middle of them, but the horses obviously remembered earlier training and went straight through them without hardly noticing, yeah! We did a lot of trotting and cantering along the open stretches. Footing was mostly sand and dirt, with just a few places where the sand got uncomfortably deep. We met another rider on the trail, a local gentleman named Wayne, who gave us some tips, and rode with us back to the campground, taking a shortcut I doubt I would have found without his help (though I know I could have found a way back, just not THAT way back. Had a nice chat along the way. One thing I'll say for Texas, everyone we've met here has been very nice, very accommodating, very laid back. The only problem so far were the Texans that didn't bother to clean up the stalls here before we arrived. Anyway, we ended up going over 10.5 miles, in perfect weather, out just about 4 hours. Horses were on their best behavior as well, with Apollo settling down very nicely from the start. After a lengthy discussion with a woman at Tractor Supply the other day (frankly, the first and only person at any Tractor Supply that seemed to know what she was talking about!), we changed the horses feed regime, cutting out the oats, having Apollo eat only hay and a small amount of Purina Enrish 32 balancer, and Clio getting mostly senior feed and some weight builder along with her hay. The results seem to be a calmer gelding, at least. We'll see what else it does over time. Meanwhile, a great day!
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