Snowplains

For the past year my mom and I plan one day a week that is solely for riding. I have no lessons and she takes the day off from work around the farm and we head out. We have found we need this time to regroup and recharge. While other times during the week we do sneak in smaller trips this one day is reserved for bigger trips. Today was one such day. After getting out of my first job at the school I head over to my mom's have one more cup of coffee, she makes me a nice breakfast(the benefits of working at your mother's) and then time to saddle up. We had some debate on where we would go and decided on the floodplains thinking it would be some beautiful views.


The first few miles I didn't bother with the camera as it has kind of a small memory card-at lest for me as I seem to take even more photos then my mom or at least as many. But once we got into town for Keri's favorite the sidewalk it was time to bring out the camera.
If the first few miles were sidewalk rather than dirt road we would make much better time, the horses just love to trot down a sidewalk doesn't matter where.

Up just a little bit and we hit the trail. Elektra was momentarily nervous that it would be as hard work as the other day in the deep snow but she quickly learned on a groomed snowmobile trail it was much easier traveling, just perfect for trotting.











The sun was bright and beautiful but it was not very warm.

As we went along we originally had one destination in mind but as usual we got distracted and decided to make a few off shoots.

First place we decide to go is over to the power-dam to see what it looks like in the winter. We have ridden over this way many times in the spring and summer(this is where we head for one of our river crossings) but have not been over this way at all in the winter so time to check things out.

First up over the snowmobile bridge which Keri just trots over as if she didn't even notice it, which is a possibility.









It seems all the horses I ride like to be close to the edge and it may be because I have a bit of a thing about looking down at stuff. As Elektra and I strolled along I snapped this picture of looking down from the bridge. Kind of cool I think but I love that goose bumpy feeling from looking down from up high.













From here down along the river then to the the old power dam. Just beautiful and to show how cold it was the whole thing was ice with the water flowing underneath it.








So frozen animals are able to walk down the water fall.














From here we take one more detour to the flood plains and along side the river which today looked more of snow plains with the vast amount of undisturbed snow and the bright sun.







We then took another trail that I thought, because I am the map of all our trips, was going to allow us to loop around and head home easily without having to retrace a lot of the same trail but it ended up bringing us further from home. For a little while we were not quite sure where we were headed but we eventually made it to an area we were familiar with and back to home.

















It was a great trip, even though towards the last mile we were definitely starting to feel the cold it was all worth it. The horses were perfect, views spectacular and we got to explore some areas we had never been. Now a day or two off for Elektra while I have lessons, meetings and a date with Splash Dancer in the ring then back to a bit of ring work for her to use some of the newly built muscles to better our dressage scores.


I think the smile on my mom's face shows how rejuvenating this trip has been.
Happy riding~