Birthday Trail Ride!!

I haven't been on a trail ride since August. I had been waiting for Duck's boots to come in (she had very sore feet) and then to have a weekend off from work, then trying to find someone with a trailer that wanted to go! I worked every weekend but the 13-14th in December (for which I was grateful for the extra hours), had family in town (yeah, and see my other blog for details) and then all the other stuff that comes along with the holidays so when an opportunity to go trail riding came up I jumped on the chance! So for my Birthday which was last Wednesday another boarder at our barn, Liz and I went for a trail ride at Cane Creek State Park which is about a little more than an hour from the barn.

First off excuse the lack of pictures. I took both of these right when we got there and then of course my camera died. It is probably better anyway because I don't think I would have been able to take many pictures anyway. Why? It was REALLY windy, and Duck hasn't ever been on a trail ride in the wind. Let's just say there were a lot of horse eating plastic, deer, etc that made me wish I had saddled her western instead of english! It was very fun though and good exposure for both Duck and I. So below is Liz and her cute boy Eli, and then one I took of Duck (obviously too close).

Liz has a 2 horse straight load trailer which Duck did pretty well with. I went to the barn early to practice loading. We are getting there on the trailer loading. Duck is always worse on the way back, it was about 45 min to load on the way back, but now I know more what to work on. The Butt bar near her rump seems to be an issue so I will be playing more with that. On the flip side though she did really, really well getting out of the trailer. She backed slowly out only when asked.

What beautiful trails! The trails at this state park go all around Cane Creek Reservoir which is beautiful. We even stopped for lunch at a picnic area overlooking the reservoir.  So many wonderful trees, and the trails are very easy. The first time we went past the reservoir Duck didn't want anything to do with it. The second time we stopped at the reservoir she stepped into the water (a little too far for my comfort) got a big drink and really tried out those new boots! Of course it was very muddy and they stayed put! I was happy about that!

I need to play more with plastic flapping around her. I thought I had done ok on that one but most of what she really spooked at was plastic flapping. One was an orange plastic barrier, another a garbage can liner. The other 2 things she really spooked at were deer running that we couldn't see while we were between a chain link fence and a bunch of trees and my favorite, out on the parking lot we crossed some dead leaves when flying towards us and for a minute I thought I was a goner! LOL. I kept telling Duck that she couldn't pitch me on my birthday!

All in all it was a wonderful trail ride with great company. We even stopped at the Waxhaw Tack exchange on the way back. I couldn't of asked for a better birthday because when I got home Niels had gotten an ice cream cake, we did presents and then Niels and I went out to dinner. Top that off with a few phone calls wishing me happy birthday from family and friends and it was a great day, even if I did turn the big 3-0!