Ride at Henry Coe with Mel and Farley

 

So I forgot my camera once again! So I will just post this without pictures and get the pictures up tomorrow, assuming I can remember my camera then!

 

 

After trying to ride together all Summer and Fall, we actually managed to get together, and ironicly enough, we will also see each other at the ride next week!

What fun day! Mel was a lot of fun to ride with, and Henry Coe park is really beautiful!

 

Pre ride:

Ok, so getting up at 6am on Saturday isn’t usually how I like to start the weekend, but for getting to ride with Mel over in Henry Coe was worth it.

I was only a wee bit concerned that Ocean might not get in the trailer, I had been pretty sure that after our ground work session on Thursday he had gotten the idea. I was right! Although once in the trailer he would not calm down!! He kept putting his head out of the door and then back in, pawing and kicking and just generally making noise. I hate horses that move around a lot in the trailer. To me, when a horse makes noise in the trailer, I need to go check on it as something is not right, that is what Lucy taught me. Luckly though Ocean calmed down and rode the rest of the way like a pro! I was very happy with how well he trailered, espeshally since we were on the road for two and a half hours getting there.

 

The Park:

Henry Coe is an amazing place to ride! If it weren’t for the fact that I have well over a half a dozen fantastic parks to ride in within  an hour, including Big Basin which does not require that I have to trailer, I would ride there more often!

Certainly for riding with Mel it will be a great place to ride in to get away from our normal haunts.

I really liked how the trails were cut into the hillside much the same way the access road in the big cow fields along the highways are. It made me feel like I was riding in an old cowfield (which I think we were given all the old fences and buildings, guess I need to read up on the history of the park!).

 

Ocean:

Ocean was great! I am simply amazed  at this horses energy! Even at the end of our ten mile ride, he was still jigging and trying to get me to let him canter. I think I have my 100 miler horse!

Even though I got several really nice trots out of him, he started two new bad habits:

1. pulling the reins out of my hands at the trot or walk when he wanted to canter. I have a lovely blister from that!

2. He has figured out that I will only let up on the reins if he trots. So he starts trotting then really goes fast and moves into the canter. Like if he is trotting I won’t notice that he has started trotting!

He did really good trotting after we let the horses gallop up one hill, normally that is not allowed for my horses, but it was so much darn fun! And Ocean really enjoyed it! I am trying to allow him some fun since I am always ragging on him to trot!

But other then that, and some jigging and some trying to run me down going down hills, he was great! No really, I am very pleased with him!

 

Mel and Farley;

Well, first of all, riding with Mel was a blast! We chatted gaily the whole time like we had known each other for years! Mel and I seem to agree on pretty much everything when it comes to our horses! Non-horsey stuff, well ummm, why on earth would we talk about something non-horsey!?!?!?

I have riden with two other endurance riders, but always with Lucy who doesn’t believe in long distance riding. I think it was really good for Ocean to ride with another endurance rider and horse. And for me too! Most of the riders I have been riding with lately are slow and boring, Mel seems to move at a similar speed to me.

Farley was great! The perfect little endurance horse! She minded her own business and was very business like!

Mel,other then just being a lot of fun to chat with, was very helpful with advice and praise for Ocean! It was pretty funny when Ocean would finally trot and Mel would praise him before I could!! Hehe!

I didn’t realize before talking with Mel how lucky I have it with where I live. She was telling me that she would probably be more willing to try and top ten if she had better places to ride. Everywhere that I ride is a fantastic with both steep hills, easy hills and lots of flat.  Just riding at home I always have to travers several miles of trail not including which ever trails I decide to go on.

Mel and Farley have a certain confidence about them that I hope I have at some point!

 

Oh, and on a more entertaining note, I sooo wish I had a picture of Mel’s face when she thought she heard a cougar! Between Ocean’s huffing (he huffs a lot!) and Farley’s boots it was hard to hear the bird,  so Mel thought it might have been a cougar. No worries, I would be just as likely to freak out! But I still had to make fun of you!

Post Ride:

Was a wee bit scary! See I currently don’t have any headlights on my truck, so I had to be home before dark or I would be stranded. I also had to get diesel or wouldn’t make it home. The problem was that I wasn’t sure if I had any money in my account since Oceans owner deposited the deposit I gave her ( I had not expected that). So I tried finding a place to get diesel in Gilroy (why can’t gas stations just say they have diesel rather then you having to slow way down and look for green pump handles?!?!), wasted 20 minutes there after excitedly pulling into a Rotten Robie then realizing that I was pulled in the wrong way (they had arrows on the ground indicating which way to pull in) and I got such dirty looks from the other drivers that I left.

Then I had a brilliant idea! I used to get hay in San Jose once a month and know how to get there and where the closest diesel carrying station is. How perfect! I just got off at the hay place, got diesel (thanking my lucky stars that I had enough money and wasn’t stranded!) and then, because I know the area quite well, was able to quickly get back onto the other freeway which is the one I wanted to be on in the first place rather then having to make the switch from one freeway to the other. I know non of that makes sense, but I was starting to really worry since my phone had run out of batteries just after our ride, and I didn’t have a charger since the plugs in my truck don’t work.

Plus I got home in enough time to get pizza before going home and getting home before dark.

 

 

Its been a long time since I had a whole day out riding like that and had such a great day!

And I no longer am that worried about this horse on a 30 mile ride! I think he could do a 50 no problems (not that I am going too!!)