When my new friend, Dale, invited me to ride Friday morning I abandoned my very important plans of house cleaning and said YES! (and yes the house is still dirty, LOL!) When I woke up to 1" of fresh snow and blizzard-like conditions I double checked to make sure everyone was still meeting up to ride in the mountains and YES they were; I am not the only semi-sane rider around! Thankfully it was just a short period of wind and snow and then the day cleared up. However, I had not previously been to this meet-up point so after passing through a promising looking cul-de-sac I skeptically continued on a small private, barely cleared of snow, forest path optimistically looking for other horse trailers.
Unfortunately I only came across a very helpful woman driving towards me (the road only had room for 1 vehicle) and I explained I was hoping that there was a parking area for horse trailers at the end of the road. Most unfortunately she explained that only her house was at the end with a small plowed out area only suitable for small cars. She backed up the 200 yards to her home and I followed her and she was able to squeeze past me while I spent then next 20 minutes trying to figure out how to turn the trailer around. The other resident of the home had a free, fairly entertaining, show watching me try to maneuver the truck and trailer around the cars, trees, large snow banks without backing down the steep embankment into the creek. Ultimately, I backed the trailer into a snowbank and unhitched then drove the truck forward and re-hitched from a completely different angle and was able to pull out! I then proceeded back to the previously promising cul-de-sac appearing to everyone's amazement from the backwoods forest road rather than the main entrance. Of course they were all tacked and ready-to-go at this point but were very nice about waiting for me to unload and get ready.
Dale then took us on absolutely stunning ride through the mountains! I am starting to call my rides with Dale "Trust-Building Rides" because his sense of adventure is limitless and every ride expands my trust and confidence in Poptart. After almost 2 hours of climbing through the snow-filled mountains we stopped for lunch, enjoying some homemade moonshine and a warming campfire. I think it was like a scene from a movie, the sun glinting off the fresh snow, a crackling fire, the horses standing relaxed, a little moonshine...
The moonshine came in handy for the 2nd part of the ride, as I was a little relaxed and didn't fret too much when we were riding on the steep snow-covered slope of mountain with no visible trail (or slightly flat spot of trail to walk) and a significant drop down the creek at the bottom. Poptart never faltered and kept both of us safe and sound. We then picked our way down the holler adjacent to a creek. Poptart never hesitated stepping over trees or going through the creeks, and in fact chose to drink at every single creek crossing (Yay!). Our only spook was on the way in when we stepped on a puddle of snow-covered ice and it cracked underneath of him, again next to a fairly steep slope/drop-off. He jumped a bit, but kept his head and listened when I urged him forward. It scared me more than him --I was bit shaky and light-headed for the next few minutes. On the back he stepped on the same ice, but just twitched his ears noticing it but kept on going and didn't miss a step.
What a fantastic and exhilarating day! I am already to head out again :)
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