Trail Ride Success

[Clarzoo]

My friend S. and I took both of our horses out for their first real trail riding experiences. Bullseye has apparently been out on trails maybe 3 times before, but it's been at least 4 years or so. Her horse, Baile, has never been on real trails.

After a near-catastrophic trailer loading incident with Bullseye (where I got pretty bruised up and he tore the skin off his hock), we made it safely to the trail head. Neither of us had been to this place before, called Sawgrass Island Preserve- but we'd heard good things about it that made us feel like it would be some nice first trail experiences for the horses. And it was!

Here are the boys all saddle and ready to go. You can see the huge size difference. Bull is 15 hands and round, Baile is almost 16.3 and lean. :p They get along great, though.

http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv253/thegatorgal/Sawgrass001.jpg

I picked up some saddle bags for Bull the other day. I'd never ridden him with them before, but he's pretty good about stuff like that not bothering him. So I loaded it up with our Coggins, snacks, drinks and other essentials. They worked great!

http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv253/thegatorgal/Sawgrass004.jpg

Here we are a little ways into the trail. Bullseye is the type of horse that is calm and happy when in the woods, but on full alert when he's out in the open. Baile is the total opposite, so their energy tends to even each other out.

http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv253/thegatorgal/Sawgrass007.jpg

http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv253/thegatorgal/Sawgrass008.jpg

Here is what I saw most of the day, lol. Just to give you an idea, they are standing even with each other at the shoulders.

http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv253/thegatorgal/Sawgrass009.jpg

Baile decided to go off-roading and grab a snack. He was very proud of himself, till he tasted the fluffy seed heads and promptly spit them out, lol!

http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv253/thegatorgal/Sawgrass010.jpg

The trails were nicely maintained, mostly grass (some deep sand) and well marked. We did about 6 miles, probably. The terrain went from prairie (the Florida version), to sand pines and scrub, to beautiful oak hammocks and marsh wetlands. One section even had some wooden bridges for us to cross! (they both did great over the bridge) We did quite a bit of trotting, too.


http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv253/thegatorgal/Sawgrass011.jpg


http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv253/thegatorgal/Sawgrass013.jpg

http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv253/thegatorgal/Sawgrass014.jpg


http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv253/thegatorgal/Sawgrass015.jpg

Baile kept Bullseye working hard. He is a Cleveland Bay/TB cross and has endless stamina and LONG legs- Bull, on the other hand, does not :rolleyes: But he did great keeping up.


http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv253/thegatorgal/Sawgrass016.jpg


http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv253/thegatorgal/Sawgrass022.jpg

After the trailer ride back to where I keep Bullseye (a 400 acre farm), we re-saddle and rode across the street to visit a co-worker at her house. At that point all three of us wanted to go visit with a neighbor, so she jumped up on Bull behind me and we rode him double a little ways down the road and back. To my knowledge, he's never been ridden double, but he didn't seem to care- just went a little slower than normal!! He's such a good boy.


And if you read all that, thanks and hope you enjoyed!!! :p

(P.S.- I put his Renegade hoof boots to the test today in all that deep sand, and they passed with flying colors!!! He was very comfy across all terrain and had no rubs!)

[Country Girl 43]

Nice pictures. Glad you had a good time. I always love a relaxing trail ride.

[Tiz]

Great place to ride, tee shirts and sun. Oh my, my, my. So, so jealous here in 40 degree, rainy Oregon.

[cyb]

Thats great! Glad you had fun.

[Buckpoco]

Ohhh...the riding looks so nice. We may take the horses to Florida this winter so maybe we can find this place. Lovely horse!

[AUEquine]

Wow, gorgeous trails! I love the sandy grass footing... I'm so jealous!

[valleyrider]

Looks like a great place to trail ride and a lot of fun... Thanks for sharring.

[Gliderider]

Great pictures..Looks like a good time.

How do you keep your boy so clean ? He sure is pretty.

[Arrow]

Looks great nice pics! Trails are the only way to go for me, glad it was such a super experience!

[FatSpottedAppy]

Bullseye is gorgeous! I wish lyric would turn that color!

[Remali]

I'm more in love with Bullseye every time I see him, he's just gorgeous! Glad he wasn't hurt too bad in the trailer, and you too.

Really nice trails you have down there, I love that one dirt/grassy road lined with trees.....what a perfect place for a nice canter!

[Gypsy Rose]

Bullseye's a beautiful horse! Looks like you had a lovely place to ride.

[starr]

great pictures, glad you had a great ride, and i too was wondering how do you keep him so clean?
i have a hard time keeping missy's sock white

[luckydoublesranch]

What a beautiful ride you had!! :)

[Bessie13]

It looks like you had a great day. Congrats on your first trail ride... Both of you. Keep it up and thanks for the photos.

[Clarzoo]

Thanks, everyone! I am so proud of how he did. :) His minor scrape from the trailer loading mishap is healing nicely and my bruises are almost gone. I gave him (and me!) Sunday off to relax, then poked around on him bareback for a bit Monday evening.

Buckpoco- If you come to FL, let me know, I can tell you where this place is. Very few people know about it, you basically have all the trails to yourself. And, it is a preserve- so there is no worrying about hunters or motorized vehicles!

Gliderider and Starr- He's not always that clean, lol! But I am lucky that he doesn't roll too much. He had a nice bath, conditioner on mane, whitening shampoo on tail and a little showsheen to keep the dirt off the day before the trail ride. He also got clipped up a bit ;) Believe it or not, he's still pretty clean as of this evening. My biggest tip is to let them dry completely after a bath before turning them out.

Remali- Yes, those trails were nice for moving out on. Bull and his riding buddy aren't yet ready for cantering on trails. But we did do quite a bit of trotting. Maybe next time!!

[WashingtonBay]

Terrific... you guys look great :)

[offgridgirl]

Terrific trail there!! I wouldn't be able to keep to a trot on that nice....sandy, straight trail!! I be going full out until my horse tired!! LOL

Glad your ride was safe and fun

[Jump The Moon]

Beautiful photos, the weather looks lovely! :)

[Buckpoco]

I'll do that, thanks!

[JackieB]

Awesome! Glad you had such a great ride.

[Remali]

And post as many photos of Bull as you like.....I love seeing him, he's so gorgeous!!! :)