Mare goes Trail riding

A few weeks ago a friend and I decided to load up and haul out to the mountains for a trail ride.  Neither of our horses have really done a "proper" trail ride before.  However, that didn't deter us due to her pony being such a rockstar.  So, as I have done a lot more hiking I offered to find a trail and she would do the driving.

After getting stuck in weekend warrior traffic on our way out.  This road is notorious for backing up but I still said to take it because I thought the Monday of a long weekend wouldn't be as bad... I was wrong.

It was a solid 45 mins later than expected but we did arrive and the equestrian parking lot was super welcoming!  Nice spots to back the rig into that were angled.  Some had picnic tables and others had hitching posts.  I only used the picnic table to mount up.  Note: Athena in new places is okay but sometimes she reverts to dancing around specifically when I'm trying to mount.  Thanks mare.

So many new things!  Athena was alert but for the most part not spooky.  The one exception was the bicycles that came whizzing by us downhill.  She really came unglued at those but because I had dismounted to walk across our first bridge I was able to contain her a little quicker and disallow her to run off.

Not "the" muddy section, just regular wet here.

We also had our first mud experience which both horses did wonderfully.  Followed quickly by the first creek crossing (no bridge) but it was only at best a metre across so even if we jumped over its not a big deal.  Athena surprised me though by stepping in the moving water and just casually walking through it after having a little think about the whole scenario.  The "lookout" was all treed in which was a little disappointing.

So we ended up not chilling out at the top for more than about 2 minutes.  Thankfully we did get a nice view a little ways down the trail!

I love being so close to the mountains!  We are definitely going to try to get out for another excursion sooner than later.  It's so good for the horses to mix things up for them as a mental break.  Though I don't think Athena had a break per se from this trip.  She practically climbed into the trailer when we were all done.  Its a lot to think about for her first mountain trip.

Do you ever take your horse trail riding?  What other activities do you use to break up the usual routine?