Blazing Trails in Fall Glory!

Maery Rose

I’ve been trail riding two gorgeous Saturdays in a row, the first was at Wild River State Park. I’ve wanted to ride at this park for a long time and it was as beautiful as I’d heard.

We didn’t know the Wild River trails, so we had to keep checking the maps to figure out where to go next.
The trails at Wild River were much better marked and the maps more understandable than what we encountered at the next park we went to. More on that later. 
We rode at Wild River for three hours and then took a snack, water, and rest break before heading home. The horses had worked pretty hard but they did seem to enjoy themselves getting away from ring work and exploring something new. Luke is sporting a lovely mane accessory of leather and feathers. I may have to talk Cheryle out of it and add a bit of color to make it stand out from Luke’s mane more.

This weekend, we went to Elm Creek Park, a local county park that has about 21 miles of trails. It is a gorgeous place with so much for people to enjoy there, but the map and trail marking system could be improved by taking a lesson from the state parks and forests. After four hours of riding, we wanted to get back to the trailer but were were having a hard time determining where we were and how long of a ride it was to get back.

But before sore muscles started to scream at us, we were having a dream of a time. The weather and trails were beautiful. We even found an apple tree. I picked apples using the conventional method.

My friend Cheryle, inspired by Cavalia, went for the top!  I played an important role as the horse handler, which made me very nervous. At least she was wearing a helmet and had a backup plan of grabbing a branch to hang from if necessary.

I had a saddle pack so I carried apples for horses and riders to help with our hunger and thirst.
Luke was one foamy lipped, happy horse!
The Elm Creek Park trails are so much fun because they take you to such a variety of trails — meadows, woods, hills, rocky, sandy, bridges — it was loads of fun! One of the horses, was only on her second trail ride and did an awesome job (thanks to her rider) dealing with bikes, joggers, hikers, cars, and a variety of other fast moving objects that would whiz by on a paved trail that sometimes ran alongside the horse trails.

Thanks for the comments on my photo journey in my previous post. I have hopes for continuous improvement and photo fun, even if I’m the only one who is impressed by my artistic adventure.

But for now, here’s a simple, cutesy video of clips of my past two trail rides. Luke was pretty good at going on auto pilot but veered off a few times. Rather than be embarrassed by my voice (do I actually have a Minnesota accent?) and my silly laugh, I’m choosing to embrace the Maeryism of it all….

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4 Comments

  2. That second pic just tickled my funny bone. It really looks like the horse is readin’ the trail map! Heeehehehe!

    Great trail ride pictures sweetie and I simply adored the video. You have a great ‘voice’ and a wonderful laugh! :o)

    Looks like you’ve have the perfect ride ‘mates’ to enjoy your trailblazin’!

    Enjoy your weeks sweetie!!!

  3. What more can i say than “Yay Maeryism!” So glad you are enjoying your horse and getting out and about with your horse pals. Oh– What the heck– I was trying to resist pointing out you never did things like this a couple years ago, but… Does seem like you’re figuring it all out now. Good for you!

  4. I love that you are embracing the Maeryism of it all…that is what life is about, isn’t it??

    Love the photos and the video clip..felt like I was right there. Quite talented to ride a horse and video tape all at the same time.

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