Gearing up for a 25 mile ride tools are

[Vicki]

Rachel and I are getting ready for her to ride her 1st 25 mile competitive trail ride. I don't know who is more excited Rachel or me!

There is a huge multi day endurance ride the 1st week in August called Shore to Shore. You can ride 50 miles a day across the state. You can also opt to ride 25 miles/ day the entire time or pick and choose your days.

We are going to try to ride the 25 on Day 2. This is my favorite part of the trail. Rachel will have fun riding her pony of the 1/4 boardwalk bridge.

We are also hoping to ride day 4. This would have us leaving my favorite campground Goose Creek. I love the start of this part of the trail as the horse have to cross a beautiful river to get to the trail.

We have had several really nice rides this year. Last weekend, we met my mom at a local state rec area and rode a nice 10 mile loop. This evening we had another really nice ride at home. DH did some brush hogging and made a nice 1/4 mile trail. We had a nice little jaunt on that before going for a 5 mile ride on the roads.

I just love having a great trail riding buddy. Rachel would trot Misty all day if she could

[Vicki]

I have no idea how the "tools are" got in the subject. It was just suppose to be "too" at the end. The key pad on my phone likes to play tricks on me.

[Idaho Linda]

It sounds like you are going to have a wonderful time and will continue to do so for years with your serious riding buddy.

[ride4fun]

How fun for you both sharing the love of the ride.

[Vicki]

Rachel and I had another great ride this morning with our neighbor. He has permission to ride on various "neighbor" properties. He has lived here for 30+years and knows everyone.

We did not do as much trotting as Rachel would have liked. One time though, Misty did the fastest extended trot I have seen her do yet. She was literally floating over the road. Rachel had a huge smile on her face. Unfortunately, I had to have her slow her pony as Goldie has yet to master the extended trot, so she got quite upset when "her" pony was out trotting her.

I worked a lot on Goldie being in the middle of our group. She has always been great out front, but she can get quite upset when in the middle. She will throw her head, prance, and just be a brat. She turns into a crazy mare.

I know I should have her leap frog and do all those tricks. For the last 10 years, I have only been able to ride her a handful of times every year, if that. Now that my oldest is able to ride, we are riding 2-3 times a week which of course is building my confidence back up.

Today while she was in the middle, she pulled her normal antics. I just remembered to take a deep breath and made her work. This helped a lot. Did she end up as calm as I would have liked in the middle? At a walk, yes. At a trot, no! At least we made progress

Rachel had a great morning on her pony and I did too

[MJ]

I am so excited for you. I used to ride a lot with my daughter also, I'm looking forward to a time when I can again with daughter and grandson.

[Trailpal]

Sounds like you are having a lot of fun! I hear you on the confidence thing - the more you get to go our, the better your confidence!

Looking forward to the ride report