I da HO horse camping

Me riding Roxie!

Because Serena let us borrow her truck. Which involved me driving to Coeur d'Alene Idaho to pick it up at her barn. When I got there guess who was just getting back from a trail ride? Serena and Roxie of course. While riding Roxie I got to try out Serena's jumping saddle which I heart.

Serena and Roxie getting back from their trail ride.

It occurred to me while looking through the pictures that there are none of Jasper due to the fact that I was the one with the camera. Which wasn't the best planning on our parts as he doesn't stand still. Period. So here's a picture of him the day before we left.

And here's one of his shadow.

We (Anke, Karlin, and I... plus Hershey, Porsche, and Jasper) got to the park around 2:00 with the ranch trailer and horses pulled by Serena's truck, set up camp, and hit the trails. Jasper was fidgity and on "super alert" mode. Having said that, he didn't jig or spook- just went into tense power walking mode and pretty much stayed there the rest of the trip. He led most of the ride, and we got a nice looooooong trot session in and some nice cantering as well. He's actually happier and more relaxed trotting and especially cantering, his perferred mode of transport.

After a while Pam called and said that she and her horse Bronnze had arrived. We circled back to camp, picked them up, and did another small loop right before dark.

That evening Serena came to pick up her truck so she and Roxie could join us the following morning. That night Hershey escaped his pen TWICE. We don't know how other than his pen didn't have a real gate so we tied ropes across the doorway. Which were all still tied in place after he escaped. They were too high for him to go over and too low for him to go under. How he got through we'll never know.

We had a group of 5 the following morning.

Pam and Bronnze. Serena (doing "Black Stallion") and Roxie. Serena actually held onto her reins for maybe 5 minutes of the ride.

Roxie gets a cookie. I think. Because Serena's leg was still there after this picture was taken.

After we returned and had lunch Serena got called to go to her new second job as a bartender. The rest of us napped. We get pretty wild.

Karlin read 2 sentences in her book.
The second ride that evening was probably Jasper's most relaxed time. He put his head down and didn't have to be half-halted every 8 steps to keep him from getting too close to to the horse in front of him. I love riding when the sun is going down, it's my favorite time to be on a horse. Something about the calmness and the light and the long shadows.

This morning we packed up camp and went out for one last ride.

Pam, Karlin, and Anke in front of the Friendship Poles built by the Boy Scouts during the 1973 Jamboree.

This was also a good ride for Jasper. He had a few moments of being relaxed and instead of frantically power walking and trying to pass everyone, he chilled out and wandered off the trail and into the woods. Which is normal behavior for him at home.

On our way backto camp there was a big field with trees widely spaced on the far end. I couldn't resist and Jasper and I cantered/galloped around the field and in and out of the trees. He was quite responsive and it was a blast. I had my first taste of what "Coffin canter" feels like. After walking and trotting over a ditch by the field, I decided to canter towards it and see what happened. He got very, very light (he KNEW that ditch was coming up) and it felt like his butt dropped 6 inches and his shoulders came up 6 inches. He ended up breaking into a trot a couple of strides out but jumped it without hesitation. Gooooooooood boy!

When we stopped all of our galloping silliness, Pam and Bronnze went for a spin. Did I mention I had the camera? I probably didn't mention that about half of the pictures are very blurry due to Jasper's inability to stand still for a nanosecond. He was finally able to stand becaue he just had a big gallop and Porsche was right next to him so he had something (one) to annoy and play with. Some clear pictures, the last ones of the trip:

Woo hoo. Now home with a pile of camping junk on the floor and needing to take a shower, but really too tired to take a shower.

Thank you thank you thank you Serena for trusting me your truck. And thank you in advance as I use it again next weekend for my jumping/eventing clinics and show down in Kennewick at Tulip Springs!