Friday, March 20, 2009

Oklahoma!

Yesterday afternoon, I headed to the airport, and picked up my hubby who had been out of town for work. Took him home, then loaded up Hank into the trailer, and headed to Oklahoma for another NATRC competitive trail ride. This ride is near Lake Carl Blackwell, which is just west of Stillwater OK. The drive up was uneventful, and we arrived just as it got dark. A quick parking job, and got Hank settled in, and before long, it was time for some sleep.

This morning when I could check out camp in the daylight, we have around 10 rigs already here. I like to arrive as early as my schedule will allow, so Hank can have time to relax, recover from the hours in the horse trailer, and not feel rushed.


Last year I wrote about this ride as the weekend progressed, and posted some photos. One photo was of some of the geese who live near the camp, and I swear, these are the same two geese wandering around, looking for horse feed to nibble on.


After visiting with a few folks, I decided it was time to take Hank for a little ride. The weather is much mike home, some 200+ miles southwest. Breezy, clouds, sun, even a few drops of rain hit for a minute. Hank was full of himself, and wanted to move out. I like the trails here, as we have such a variety of single track, woods, grassy meadows, jeep two track roads. They are VERY well marked, with permanent signs and arrows directing us along the different colored loops. They even have some big bright butterfly markers at some intersections


We watched for deer, but only saw one Opossum, who looked to be very old, and moved pretty slow.


After we returned, we got checked in with the vet and judge. Our ride vet got stuck in Denver with some airline troubles, so another vet who was competing was able to get us checked in, with the exception of the horses in her class. I understand that as I am typing this, the ride vet is well on her way to the ride, having finally escaped Denver, and landed in Oklahoma.

I am parked next to my friend Dolly, who I ride with often. She has a young calf (Katie)that she has to bottle feed, who came along with her, and stays in the back of the horse trailer, or on a long leash. Hank was very fascinated with Katie, and checked her out.


This is a full ride, with around 60 entries. Camp has filled up, and we have riders for all the surrounding states.

The cool thing is we have SEVEN open junior riders. The future of our sport! That is a huge junior class, and great to see the kids out there.

Tomorrow we will be riding 30 miles. Hopefully the weather will be kind. Never know WHAT it will do. I will try to update the weekend tomorrow!!

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