Over the meadow and through the woods.....

Well the weather was kind to us today. While some storms passed through Oklahoma, we only had some light rain once and awhile. Did not even need rain gear to deal with it. Temps in the mid to upper 50's I'd guess for most of the day. The open riders rode 30 miles, while the novice rode 20. The trail has a lot of variety, from some nice open meadows, to short rocky climbs. Wooded single track trails that twist around through the trees like a snake. The footing is generally pretty good. Today I saw plenty of deer, including a grazing group of about 8 or 10. One doe walked into the trail and crossed about 30' in front of Hank and I. Of course, camera was tucked away in saddle pack.

The judges watched us walk over some logs across the trail, cross a muddy creek, go down a steep hill, up the other side, and ask horse to stop part of the way up and count to 5 (me, not the horse), and we had a fun down and up through a small draw with an embankment to hop up. Good test of things we could find along the trail. Hank was pretty good until the last one, where he went off course a tad on the up embankment, while I was trying to stay light in the saddle. Oops. :-)

Tomorrow we have a judged AM mount at 6:45. Whoo Hoo, I'll barely be awake. lol The we get to ride to the other side of the trail system, where it skirts the edge of the lake. If you have not ridden here, and are close enough to come camp, they have an excellent trail system and horse camp.

Right now I'm ready for bed, so I'll post some trail photos below.