Congratulations Camille!

This year we dedicated our playdays to the Darrington series. Its a great event and we enjoy the people and free camping. This year Camille competed in the youth division and took the first place. She received an awesome belt buckle! We are looking forward to next year.

October; Best Month Yet

Riding in October has always been my favorite, but this month the weather has really made it extra special. The bugs are gone, the trees are vibrant e with color, its a perfect 60 degrees and weekends are free to trail ride (4-H season is over). So far we have rode Philchuck Tree Farm, Les Hilde Trail Head, Heart Lake and Butler Hill Stables trails. I am looking forward to more and plan to seek out Lost Lake in the southern end of Whatcom County this weekend.

Picture: Jeff and Camille at the top of Stagecoach Trail in Republic WA. Sign says to Kettle Falls Trail.

Mazama

Riding is Mazama this spring was better than expected. Not too hot and lots of trails to explore. Plan to go back again in September. Since winter decided to try out barefoot and even though we rode with Easyboots it did not work out so well. One of my horses has and overstep so she kept hitting the boot. My other horse's back feet got sore on just a little bit of gravel. It was a particularity wet winter and their feet were soft. Decided before the next trip to Republic that I would have to put shoes on them if we were going to ride as planned. In Eastern Washington the terrain can be rocky and hard - even though in the western part of the state it can stay wet until the end of June. This makes hooves soft and can not be ideal for barefoot horses. Love the idea but just couldn't put the horses through the pain even with boots.

Just finished reading a book by Joe Camp called The Soul of the Horse. Excellent reading - I would recommend this book to anyone who is horse minded. Check out his website and blog at http://www.thesoulofahorse.com/ Let me know what you think.

Philchuck trails closed

On December 17 we discovered that the Pilchuck trails from Bracken road are closed until further notice. No information about when they will re-open.

Christmas Ride

The day after Christmas was a great day for riding. We headed out about 11:00am to let things thaw a little and it actually warmed up nicely. Anacortes community forest lands are great trails. The trail access from heart lake is great for horses. We had a nice two hour ride from heart lake to Whistle lake. I believe there are 5,000 acres of trails. Maps are available at the parks and recreation office in anacortes.

4-H for now...

While my good intentions to keep on writing about trail riding my daughter has began her riding experience and joined a 4-H club. She is riding my mare Ami who is a lot of horse for a nine year old. She began taking lessons in November in 2008 riding western (because of the horn) on a lung line. I was petrified. One spook and I could see her on the ground. Ami is not a big horse, but at 15 hands its a long way to fall for a little girl that weighs under 60 pounds! In the Spring the 4-H group starting group rides and at first my daughter borrowed a school horse to participate. I was afraid my horse would be too much for her to handle around other horses. After consistently riding and taking a lesson once a week she finally was able to handle her off the lung line, Yeah! Then we worked up to trotting, and before I knew it she was cantering. While she keeps improving every day I never thought we get to the day where she rode both English and Western and competed in the county fair - but she did it! It was the first fair for both her and Ami and there were times she and I wanted to give up - but we did it. She actually kept her under control and placed well (for a first timer). Now I look back on those days in the beginning and see how far we have come and I am soo proud of her. She stuck out the good and the bad times and now her and Ami are really a team. I love to see them galloping together across the pasture totally relaxed and having fun. Now that the 4-H year has died down we are out trail riding together. And now, I get to write more about the places we go and the fun we have until we start our quest to get ready for next years fair.