I called up my newest horse buddy Shanon and asked if she would like to go trail riding to the reservoir property with me and Frank. Shanon eagerly accepted and said she would trailer over to my barn Sunday morning and we would drive over together. True to her word Shanon arrived at 9 am right on time. I had my trailer hooked up and ready to go. Shanon unloaded her mount Candy Man a 20 year old Sabino Tennessee walker. I went and fetched Frank and after a short introduction loaded Frank into the trailer first and Candy followed right after.
The reservoir property is an old farm the county bought with plans to build a reservoir for the water supply of Scott county, to date nothing has been planned and the county allows hiking, hunting and horseback riding on the property. The property consists of about 300 acres and is a wonderful place to go and ride. There are wooded sections and open pastureland as well with many creek crossings. You can choose to ride challenging hills or just meander through gentle slopes. Best of all you can ride your horse barefoot there as there are few rocks on the trails.
The property is less than 10 minutes from my house and around 20 from the barn where I keep Frank. When we arrived there was not a soul in sight. We quickly saddled and headed out on our adventure. Since Candy Man had not been out in the woods for a few years there was some apprehension on Shanon's part. She need not have worried he was very happy to be out in the woods and was a good sport all day.
The boys saying hello to one another!
We did a short ride on the pasture land and then we headed back to the trailer for a lunch break. When we arrived at the trailer we found four more trailers had showed up and people were getting ready to ride. We took a short break and mounted up for part two of our day. We chose the opposite side of the road this time and did some hill climbing and found a beautiful path through the woods. I spotted a turkey hen running for cover off to my left, she was too quick for a picture I am afraid. We came upon an old road and followed it a bit and I snapped this picture of Shanon up ahead of me.
You can see the trees are not yet leafed out, things are just starting to pop around here. This was my view for much of the day as Candy Man walked much faster than Frank. That was just fine it helped Frank work on his separation anxiety and he did remarkably well this day. We rode for a few hours and decided to call it good since none of us were particularly in great shape yet. All in all a wonderful afternoon spent with a new friend who although is young enough to be my daughter a wonderful companion.
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