Pi and Tofu
03-15-2009, 04:06 PM
There are a couple of new people that I ride with and they asked if I wanted to go on a "burger ride." Basically ride for an hour to a restaurant, tie the horses, eat, and ride back. Sounded like fun so I said yes. Everything was a lot further than I expected; however, I am glad that I didn't know the distances, as I probably would have begged off, and I ended up having a lot of fun. It is the longest that I have gone with the trailer, which was a confidence booster.
The trails were beautiful, with some hills, which is rare in Florida. Saw bicyclists (there is a bike path that crosses the horse trails at intervals), other horses, cows, and lots of interesting things when we crossed through the backyards of people as we closed in on the restaurant. The restaurant is set up with hitching rails and trees. You go inside to order, but you sit outside with the horses, under a cover with some benches and tables, and they bring the food to you. All in all, it ended up being apx 4 hours in the saddle. Keeping up with gaited horses was interesting, as Tofana has a naturally very slow walk; got to do a lot of trotting and cantering as we we would walk, be left behind, catch up, walk, be left behind, catch up (rinse and repeat). They also had some fun ditches set up that you could ride down and then trot/canter up the other side. The people that I was with offered often to stop and let Tofana catch his breath, but he is pretty fit and didn't get tired till the end; even then he was not puffing and blowing, just looking down at the sand and asking if he could roll (that would be a no), as well as slowing down.
Interesting day.
One picture, didn't think to take a picture of the restaurant with all the horses tied up.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Ps8eKCG0VeY/SbxDR_73wXI/AAAAAAAADgU/mN7if5SgRqo/s800/IMG_0868.JPG
The trails were beautiful, with some hills, which is rare in Florida. Saw bicyclists (there is a bike path that crosses the horse trails at intervals), other horses, cows, and lots of interesting things when we crossed through the backyards of people as we closed in on the restaurant. The restaurant is set up with hitching rails and trees. You go inside to order, but you sit outside with the horses, under a cover with some benches and tables, and they bring the food to you. All in all, it ended up being apx 4 hours in the saddle. Keeping up with gaited horses was interesting, as Tofana has a naturally very slow walk; got to do a lot of trotting and cantering as we we would walk, be left behind, catch up, walk, be left behind, catch up (rinse and repeat). They also had some fun ditches set up that you could ride down and then trot/canter up the other side. The people that I was with offered often to stop and let Tofana catch his breath, but he is pretty fit and didn't get tired till the end; even then he was not puffing and blowing, just looking down at the sand and asking if he could roll (that would be a no), as well as slowing down.
Interesting day.
One picture, didn't think to take a picture of the restaurant with all the horses tied up.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Ps8eKCG0VeY/SbxDR_73wXI/AAAAAAAADgU/mN7if5SgRqo/s800/IMG_0868.JPG