Taking you on a birthday ride!

On Saturday a few friends and I headed to Denise's neck of the woods for a birthday ride!  A couple friends actually drove 2 hours so we could ride together for Terrie's birthday!  The weather was absolutely perfect, with puffy white clouds, blue skies and no bugs!  We got to ride a mixture of beach, dunes and woods.  We started out about 10:30 and headed for the beach first!

See the mowed trail?  Isn't that great!

As we got towards the beach there was a small rise in the landscape before going down to the beach and Corky did exactly what he did last fall when we were here, he just stopped and stared at the vast amount of water.  I always wonder if he's wondering if I'm going to make him cross it!

I was so happy that someone caught him just looking!  There was a slight breeze, so there were little waves coming in, which he still hasn't decided if he likes those.  We just meandered along the shoreline talking and enjoying the relaxing atmosphere.

See the quad tracks?  That's another thing that tripped Corky up for a couple seconds.  He still notices anything below his feet, like lines in the road, or a difference in the sand and wonders if it's going to get him.  I even figured out that his shadow was trying to get him a couple of times, but he just trusted me and we kept poking along.

The birthday girl had to canter on the beach and here she is doing that.  That summer home is a dream house for all of us.  Their view is absolutely breathtaking out over Lake Huron.










We were really confused as to which way to go when this picture was taken!  (Not really, but we called it "Which way do we go?"

And here is Karen and I just sauntering along on our horses!

It was such a beautiful day!

Here's the birthday girl just relaxing in the little waves.

At one point we had to cross a small channel and the water was almost to Corky's tummy.  He did very well, but I had to keep a leg on him the whole time.  I wondered at one point if he was going to try to swim, but once again he trusted my judgment and just did it.

Corky's next obstacle was a bridge!  He's never crossed a bridge and yesterday he had to go over 3 of them!  This was the first one and as you can tell if the other horses weren't across, he would have said, "Let's turn around and go home, Mom!"  It took a few tries, but he did it, but it was said he looked like he was walking on ice!  I'm sure at this point, he brain was really taxed, but he just kept going for me.

We kept going down the beach until we came to a roadside park to take a rest and eat our packed lunches!  We found a gentleman that was nice enough to take all of our picture together.  Even the dogs were enjoying the day!

While we ate, I had Corky's complete attention, as well as Bear's and our guide Karen's horse Paco!

Yes, I shared.  I had no idea horses liked peanuts, raisins and sunflower seeds!  The horses all thought it was a grand way to break for lunch.









On another note, the birthday girl's horse Smokey decided to see what other people had left from their lunch!  I dubbed him Smokey the Bear, since it's the bears that usually rummage through the trash around here.

After our pitstop we headed back to our starting point, but was going to cross the road to hit the trails in the woods in about a quarter mile.  Of course, the horses said "Woohoo!  Going home!"  Corky was a little bit out of control, but his faster walk is very comfortable, but when we went to turn right, he was very intent on left.  Where we cross the road we go up a sand rise and as we got to the top of the rise, Corky said, "Nope, going left."  I didn't realize Denise was right behind me, so it was a tight squeeze for a minute, as we both headed back down the hill and back around to go across the road.  Corky was testing yesterday, but then I remembered a couple horses that if they tested like that, I would think that was an easy ride!

After riding on a two track for a bit, our guide told us to take this less traveled trail.  At first I didn't think I had ever been on it, but then we hit this ridge and I remembered it very well.  The first time I was on it was the first year I rode horses a few years back and I was scared, because it's a long ways down on both sides and you don't want your horse losing its footing.  It's very pretty and I enjoyed immensely this time around.  I tried to take a couple pictures, but it doesn't begin to show the contrast of how high up it is.

Can you see the stream down below?

This picture gives a contrast with Smokey's head in the view.









And this was an awesome spot to take a couple of other pictures!

This is Karen who knows all the trails around here so well!  If you ever get lost in Detour, call her!

And then we all recognize Denise, our contest leader!  It looks like Bear is wearing a branch, but I caught the picture as she was behind the branch!











We continued on and came to a couple more bridges which Corky did excellent on!  The one was wide enough for 4 of us to have our picture taken, but it was quite funny to watch us all try to get lined up!

And then we had to get a picture of all 3 Curlys that were on the ride!  Yes, 3!

After we made back to the starting point, we all gathered for ice cream in Karen's restaurant in honor of Terrie's birthday!  There is a picture of that somewhere, but I can't find it!  We all had helmet head, so maybe it would be too scary!  It was an awesome day and I hope you all had an awesome weekend too!

Janeen and Corky
UP of Michigan