Hey Trail Riders

[Eileen]

It has been a while since we could swap trail info on here. What have you been doing, where do you ride, what are the plans for this coming summer> etc etc etc.. lol just nosey.
I found a great place in the Durham area where you can camp and ride out. The people are great and some pretty good trails. There is another area above Parry sound that I want to check on this summer. So much area to cover, so little time.

[Eileen]

Wow, it does not look like there are any trail enthusiasts here. i went riding again today. i took a different route than usual, and got into some new territory for this year. it was great, i was out on my own so tried to take it easy and not take any chances. Ran into some nasty low spots that still had water in them, and do not like to chance running into the slithery wild life that sometimes lurk there. i try to stay clear of the iffy areas. i will turn back and try to find a different route. i did that but ran into fences or more water. it turned out that i had to take relatively the same route back as i had taken out. i hate that but sometimes it has to be done. i guess i was out for about 3 hours which was just a nice ride on great day. i hope to do it again tomorrow and beat the rumored rain that is coming our way.

[Kaleena]

Sounds lovely Eileen! We aren't doing much hacking right now with the wicked wind chills and all the ice! I used to love riding outside in the winter sun when there was lots of snow, no ice, and not too cold. I don't think we've had a winter like that here in a very long time

[Eileen]

i am afraid that i have become a winter riding whimp when it comes to the cold temps. i used to ride in the snow and never mind it, but that was before i wintered down south and found out that there is an entirely different world down here in the winter. We can ride just about any day with out worrying if our fingers or toes will freeze. i am going riding tomorrow come hell or high water, i have had enough of sitting home and wishing that the rain would quit.

[Patricia]

Question Eileen: Do you trailer your horse all the way to Florida? Where do you stay at a farm? Or do you lease/rent horses to ride down there? Have you made lots of friends to ride with? Do you go to the same place every year? Planning for retirement. I'd love to do something like that. I so loathe winter.

[chenders01]

Well I'm not strictly a trail rider but I do try to get out for hacks on the weekends when the weather is permitting. Where I am boarding now, we only have one small trail at the back of the farm property...it is actually another farm's property but they allow us to ride on their land. If you just walk, it takes 20 minutes to go around the loop...which is nice if you go out during the week and only have time for a short hack before it gets dark.

Other than that, we ride on the roads. Fortunately, they are all pretty quiet, especially on the weekends, and Raymond is really good about traffic...it does not phase him. We ride through a little town, and there is one area with a gravel pit that we can ride through, and that is nice because it gets us off the road.

My barn owner has a 4-horse trailer and I am trying to talk her into trailering those of us who want to go hacking on real trails, to some local places where we can do that. But it will depend on everyones' showing schedules this summer, and whether the trailer is available or not. Summer is always busy...we have a multi-discipline barn, so my barn owner does a lot of trailering out on the weekends.

I haven't gotten up the nerve yet to hack Raymond out alone...I always like to go with at least one other person but maybe that will be this year's goal...to get him going out alone, even just out back.

[fusspot]

I love trail riding Eileen!! I just found your post now. I can hack out alone from my farm a short distance down the road or through the fields if the crops are off to road allowances, which are all over the place. I can also trailer 7 minutes to meet friends and we go out in the Northumberland Forest, which is massive. The trails are mostly sandy, it is a multi-use forest so there are 4 wheelers and the odd dirt bike so we try and go out during the week when it's not too busy. The motorized riders are very considerate though, we all have to get along.

Is the place in Durham that you go, Sandaraska Park? Four of us camped there in the fall of 2008 and had a blast, very easy access to the Ganaraska Forest and good sandy trails for the most part.

There is another place that we are curious about, it's called Eastern Cowboy and they have a huge trial system, with cabins for rent and corrals for the horses. I'd like to check it out this year. Have you heard of it? http://www.easterncowboy.com/

I'd also like to get to Otter Creek in NY state one of these days.

[chenders01]

I camped one year at Sandaraska Park and *loved* it. This was back when I had Tequila and had never hacked her. But she was awesome...as long as we were with other horses (she was a bit of a spaz at the campsite if her "buddy" horse that she was stabled beside went more than 2ft away from her...man, I am not sorry to be rid of that mare lol!). Anyhoo, I would love to get Raymond there someday but it is quite a hike from where we are in K/W...not sure that I can convince my B/O and 2 other people to trailer that far.

You guys who have trails nearby are lucky. I think the closest place for us is Belwood Lake Conservation Area and it is probably an hour's drive away. I miss the days when I boarded at a barn with awesome trails out back but the care at the place I'm at now makes up for the lack of trails. Like I said, we can go out on the roads and around farmers' fields but it is not the same as being in the forest for hours and hours. Guess I can't have it all