the ride goes on

On a sunny Fall weekend, as expected, White Mound park was the busiest we've ever seen. We counted eight trailers, some camping, most not. There are typically one or two trailers, and sometimes none. Who wouldn't want to be outside enjoying the trails with gorgeous weather on one of the last nice days before the snow flies?!

The other riders in our group who were all in, in the end, were all out. I like to believe the intention was there, but when time comes to commit it often falls to the wayside. Must be common. The couple we met last weekend at White Mound said their riding buddies bowed out as well. We all agreed, the ride goes on regardless.

We ended up sharing the last leg of the trail with these nice folks. They were parked right in front of us, and waved as we pulled in. The only other riders we encountered on the trail was a large family group that was just heading out. Our paths crossed with this couple two other times throughout our meandering ride, all pleasant encounters. I can't help but wonder if these things happen for a reason?

Trail experiences were shared, as best we could while maneuvering single file down a rocky rather challenging trail. All of us were thankful to be out enjoying our horses, exploring the beautiful surroundings. It felt like we were kindred spirits of sorts. We chatted some more back at the trailers, shook hands and went our separate ways. We surely would have become friends, if only it wasn't so odd to give out ones phone number to people you've just met.

I opted to not bring my pocket camera for this ride. No surprise I only have one iphone photo to share, not very impressed with my phone camera... The park is very pretty, it's also very hilly. It does offer prairie riding, but to fully enjoy the trails you ride the steep mound where you are either going up, or down - and sometimes sideways. 

I always check websites for trail updates, before heading out on our trips. It mentioned they were looking for riders to try out a new trail. No clue when that was posted. We knew we found the new trail the minute we started riding it. It wraps around the lake, high above, weaving and crossing the hillside. You find yourself traveling in the woods surrounded by many tree's, riding sideways, while heading mostly downwards. Brad mentioned it reminded him of our Colorado rides, on a smaller scale. It's very pretty. You can actually see the lake from a birds eye view in one area. We really enjoyed the new trail! However I would be remiss if I didn't mention there were some rather dangerous parts, when our horses were sinking and sliding. I certainly wouldn't want to ride this trail when it's wet. Nemo was in the lead, and I kept seeing his back legs slide out - especially the downside one. Koda and I tried to avoid the treacherous parts, but there were spots were you didn't have a choice. In the worst spot, all four of Koda's legs began to sink and slide, and he started to panic. He stopped, listened, and trusted me enough to guide us through that sticky area safely. I was really proud of my boy! This new trail is not for the faint of heart. Any new wooded trail means uprooted or cut trees, even with best efforts it leaves holes, and lots of loose dirt - but when that's done on a steep sloping hillside it adds another level of difficulty. I don't know what it is about White Mound, but that place is always a fun adventure!! Altho it was only a couple hours of riding, it was one tough ride. 

White Mound

It isn't all hills and thrills, we enjoyed a couple small water crossing's on the flatter area's. We came upon disgusting deer remains lying across one of the roadside prairie paths. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! Koda didn't want anything to do with those lifeless beady eyes, me either. I tried not to look, as we rode waaay around. Shortly after the first stream is a nice stretch of trail that is safe for a faster paced gait. We trotted along, until the wooded paths started up again.

By the time we got back to the trailer, Koda & Nemo were soaked to the bone. We had such a wonderful ride, enjoying many of the things we love!! The yellow, orange, red and green landscape was so pretty on our ride home. We wrapped the day up by giving the boys a nice rosewater bath back at the barn, hand grazing them while drying off in what was left of the sun, and tucking them into their stalls with supper waiting. We were all exhausted, and happy. 

wrapping up summer

Take a couple days of vacation + Labor Day weekend = five much needed days off from work! We planned on trying some new trails further away from home before the holiday weekend started, but that plan changed with the weather. Yesterday we hit high 90's, only a few degree's off a record high. We decided riding a familiar place was a better idea, and knew most of the trails at White Mound are shaded. We had a steady breeze on the open trails, and the best part - no bugs! It's been a good summer for trail riding in WI. White Mound was a great choice, it was only our third time and we loved it all over again. It's definitely the quietest place we've ever trailered to, we've never run into anyone on the trail. I still can't believe we were the only ones in the entire park yesterday, we had to self register. The only person we saw all afternoon was a guy mowing the grass, after we were on the road back home.

We hadn't ridden the boys in a couple weeks, and it showed. Nothing terrible, just a sticky start. Koda was doing his backing thing, guess bad habit's die hard...I was getting frustrated. Seems I've lost my feel for catching it, but am working on getting it back. Nemo wasn't his usual golden self either, he wasn't as willing to be the trusting fearless leader he normally is.  We took it all in stride. With the scary outhouses, and the road bridge behind us, we headed into & out of the woods and settled into a nice long ride... 

out of the woods onto un-manicured trails, which we like

...instead of staring at a computer monitor all day at work, this was my view when we weren't in the woods maneuvering hills...

the view between my horse's ears

...my favorite part of the ride was crossing the creeks. The boys still need encouragement to get in, but it's getting easier. They sure had fun playing in the first creek!

Nemo playing in the water

Koda stood in the water forever, and played. I think he liked the feel of the cool stream on such a hot day. He tried drinking, or more likely just wet his lips.

 ...I suggested we try riding the creek, but Nemo & Brad decided that wasn't such a good idea shortly after starting out ...

testing out the water further

...we did some trotting in the open prairie, and soaked up the view...

White Mound prairie

...and tackled the many challenging hills. We were all tired after 3.5 hours, and happy to be back at the trailer. We gave the boys a grassy treat, and sponged them down before heading back home.

Today we thought it would be best to change it up, and hang around the farm & ride. It should have felt cooler, since we only got into the 80's, but I swear it was hotter.

Brad went to drag the arena, and I brought the trailer down. My first time driving it alone, hehee. Don't be so impressed tho, I had no horses in it and literally drove the trailer around a country corner. The only hard part was figuring out how to back it up, and park where we unload. Nemo never left the corner of the pasture after the trailer arrive, and all of a sudden he decided to try playing "dead"...near the road. A white horse just laying there not moving, surrounded by nothing...he turned every head on the highway...

Shhhh, Nemo is sleeping - he can't go riding

What a silly boy, suddenly deciding to stop, drop, and sleep with all the commotion going on. We left him for last, and took turns using the freshly dragged arena. Cierra got worked first. Koda & I were up next and did some loping, some side-passes, and trotted over a few poles before heading out to the pasture to walk around. I was really pleased that Koda did everything I asked. Brad & Nemo did some loping too. It's been a long time since we rode in an arena, and it felt good! 

I suggested we end with a short trail ride on the farm. We could do a quick loop, take the one existing snowmobile path that cuts through the strip of woods, and get back to the pasture on the field road. With the fields planted, riding is very limited on the farm. Much to our surprise, we discovered an assortment of paths had been created weaving through the length of the strip of woods. Exactly what we had talked about doing someday. My brother-in-law had cleared some paths for his girls to ride. Who knew? The two girls had even posted some cute "stop" signs on the tree's. No breath taking views, but the trees formed a cool canopy...

Brad & Nemo riding on the new path

...what a magical place for a couple young girls and their mounts to ride, and for adults - well, you can't beat riding right from the pasture and into the woods...

Curious Koda

...we had fun exploring the new paths! For some reason, Koda wanted to lead the majority of the time. He was really curious where the paths would lead. We actually ended up separated from Brad & Nemo a couple times, and rode alone - Koda didn't seem to care.

I'm looking forward to enjoying our remaining vacation days. It's suppose to cool off even more, we may even head out on the road to try that new location?! Regardless, I can't think of a better way of wrapping up summer then hanging out with my hubby & our horses!

crickets and creeks and steps ~ oh my!

Before we bring Koda & Nemo home, and the show season goes into full swing for our trainer, we wanted to take in another trail ride. We couldn't find anyone to join us, so Brad, Patty and I headed out to White Mound - and once again found an adventure!

It was a warm sunny 86 degree's. The trails had opened four days earlier. I wasn't sure what we would find on opening weekend, having only ridden these trails once before. We arrived to find only three trailers, not bad. One group was at the camp site/unloading area, we never did see the other's or anyone on the trail. Their horses were saddled and grazing, and loose...pretty darn bold if you ask me. They grabbed two of them after we unloaded, but let the other two wander around. Whatever. We tacked up, did a short lunge warm up and headed out - starting off with a challenge. Someone had set up camp in an undesignated spot. We had to walk past their tent, scary outhouses, and right next to hanging blowing clothes, bags, and a mirror on a clothes line. The recent fire that was put out got wonky looks from the horses too. Let's just say we all got off. Brad & Nemo eventually rode around the outhouse/tent area. Once past the scary stuff, Patty got back on Lena  (a young Haflinger in training) We went right from the scary campsite, to the road. Great. Falling off while road riding was fresh in my mind. Starting out with Koda ready to jump out of his skin at the campsite, shot my nerves. I opted to walk the road. This wasn't how I wanted to start my ride.

Brad & Nemo led us onto a trail that was varied, and beautiful. Parts of it looked familiar, and we were happy to find they had marked the trails a bit better then our first visit. We rode the trail now occasionally marked as number 7. We rounded a corner and suddenly found ourselves surrounded by thousands of crickets ~ the ground was alive!! The crickets were making noise and hopping everywhere, the trail was completely blanketed with them. Koda looked down the entire time trying to figure out what the heck those jumping things were that engulfed his feet. We had a good laugh, none of us had ever experienced cricket-land. It was surreal.

We all took turns leading, and rode in and out of different terrain - forrest, grassy plains, across park roads, and very hilly woods with steep declines. We came upon the same hills we had dismounted on our first ride at White Mound, due to the slippery wet conditions. All the horses took the hills slow, and did great. There was a lot of down hill riding. One would think what goes down must come up, but we went down far more then we ever went up. 

At one point on the grassy open trails a huge Tom Turkey jumped out of the bushes right next to Lena and Nemo, all three horses jumped and spun around. I thought, here I go again...I grabbed my horn and this time managed to hang on and regain my balance. Patty was delighted, but in all honesty I didn't do anything different then the last time this happened. I looked up, Brad and Nemo had already walked up the hill. I didn't think anything of it, but called out for him to wait.

Brad and Nemo leading the way

We crossed a swampy area, and came upon a creek. Nemo and Koda have never crossed water. Patty thought her mount had, but wasn't sure. Our boy's didn't want anything to do with getting swallowed up by the mud that preceded the water. Brad dismounted and walked though the small creek, but Nemo jumped it! He encouraged Nemo to trust, and eventually rode him through the mud and creek over and over. The haffie followed him and walked right through it, funny how they all have different strengths. I just didn't have it in me, so I dismounted and held Lena while Patty rode a shaking Koda. With the help of Nemo, they eventually convinced Koda it was okay. We switched, and I rode Koda through the creek too. He took it slow, and did a good job. Later in the ride, we all crossed a different creek with ease.

As if all that wasn't enough of an adventure, we found ourselves on a different challenging part of the trail. While riding through the woods we came upon large blocks of hardwood timbers strategically placed on the trail, to stop erosion. At that point Patty was leading, her mount wasn't too keen on the wood blocks. I decided to take the lead, Koda and I hopped up the first one (it was a big step) and maneuvered around others. It changed into a narrow path with barbwire on one side, and a small patch of scrub trees between us and the campers. What we found next, stopped us in our tracks. You couldn't see the end of a steep rocky downhill narrow winding path, with more large blocks of wood - did I mention it was really steep? Once again fearless Brad and Nemo took the lead, Koda and I went next, and altho Patty thought about dismounting she chose to ride it. It would have been hard to lead a horse in hand. Once again all the horses were rock stars, as we worked in teams, slowly weaving and maneuvering the advanced rugged terrain. Definitely not a trail for the faint of heart, horse or human.

A few paths later, Brad and Nemo led us back to the trailer. How does he do that? I'm married to a GPS, good thing too - I need all the help I can get!  We were a happy thirsty, sweaty, and tired bunch.

My sweaty boy, Koda

After letting the horses graze and cool off, we headed back to the barn. They were pretty happy to be going home. I wonder if they liked the adventure as much as we did?

Patty and Lena getting ready to load

We unloaded the trailer, and tucked our boys into their stalls. On the ride home I found out why Brad and Nemo uncharacteristically rode away after the Tom Turkey scare. He said he was pissed. Huh? He had been thinking about my saddle. Firmly stating "it's not you Aurora - I know what I saw, and it's the saddle (fit). When the horses justifiably spooked, said he easily saw 4-6 inches between my butt and the saddle...and I never should have caught air". Nobody else did. I never used to catch air during anything similar. The horses turned and went sideways, there was no hill or lift. I know why, I am perched. I've been saying this since day one. Nobody's fault, but my own. I gave in, and stopped mentioning things like the way the cantle pushes me forward. I'm fighting it. I really needed a saddle and had been on a very long search so I payed for it, and still am (in other ways). I've tried to change the way I ride...and am very far from an expert, but it's throwing me off balance. It's all okay, until something goes wrong.


In the past, I never gave saddles a second thought - I rode in whatever. A person shouldn't have to change the way they ride. Now I'm always consciously thinking about it, the whole dang trail. Not much relaxing going on. Imagine how Koda feels. All the carefree stuff I loved is gone. Maybe someday I'll find "it" again? My saddle tree is narrow, it's comfortable, it's pretty and yep it makes me sit up real nice and straight - not so important on the trail. It stinks, I really like everything else about my saddle but I'm stuck with it for now. I'm tired of thinking about it, and surely your tired of reading about it. We have other rides planned. I'll just have to keep my guard up. Not sure why, but for some reason my husband's comment made me feel better.

adventure on the trail

One vacation day, four young horses and a mixed bag of weather turned a Friday afternoon trail ride into an adventure! On the ride was Koda & Nemo, the most "experienced" trail horses of the group (at the ripe old age of four), Trooper, a five year old Haflinger-Paint mix, who had little to no trail experience (nor did his new owner), and the baby of the bunch was Rasta, a 3 year old Fresian-mix who had never been out on a trail - all in training.

None of us humans had ever been to White Mound County Park either, but we knew other riders who had. One trusted source said they wouldn't go back there camping, because the  trails weren't long enough and only took an hour. After hearing that, I called and talked to the Park Ranger (again) and he assured me they had about 7.5 miles of varied terrain and had no idea how anyone could ride them in an hour. He was super nice, answered all my questions, and asked that I call him back after our trail ride to let him know if we had any suggestions. Camping is one thing, an afternoon ride is another. We decided to give White Mound a try.

We arrived to find a quiet scenic park, quickly got unloaded and tacked up. We saw a couple horse groups camping in the distance, but didn't run into any of them (or anyone else). My kinda place to ride.

Nemo & Koda's Hitched Butts

Rasta chillin' upon arrival

The park was beautiful, a haven for butterflys. They fluttered around everywhere. Wildflowers were blooming and scattered throughout our ride. Coneflowers and Black-eyed Susan were plentiful, and around every bend. We also saw a lot of butterfly host plants like Dill, no doubt intentionally planted.

Nemo is in the lead, followed by Trooper, Rasta and Koda

We started out by doing a loop right off the horse campground/unloading area, and yep - it took about one hour. We ended right back where we started. The horses were all well behaved. Young Rasta quickly found his feet, what an expressive (and tall) horse he is. So funny watching him look around, and wonder. We were all glad Patty was the one riding him. His first trail experience may have been different otherwise. Rasta needed a confident rider who knew him, to keep his young mind at ease.

It began to rain pretty hard after that first loop. We took cover under a tree, and eventually moved under a very small park shelter with two benches - enough for four people and four partial horses. It was cozy.

Nemo's rainy face, under the shelter

The rain stopped, and we headed out to explore the main trail that winds around the perimeter of the park. It was pretty, with varied terrain. We rode into/out of the woods, through prairie's and up/down hills.

Nemo & Brad, and yes - Koda's familiar ears

The rain made for a new experience - slippery muddy hills. If it hadn't been for the rocks, it would have been impossible to maneuver. Twice we all dismounted, and two-by-two we picked our way down the steep winding slopes. For some reason both times Koda & I were last to slide, I mean walk, down the hills. Probably because Trooper was on forward march most of the ride, Brad was frequently up ahead trying to figure out which paths to take, and you can't have the baby in the back during scary stuff.

We were spread apart on the muddy hills for safety reasons, at any given time two riders were out of site. It was kinda scary. There were times when Koda would slide past me, he looked at me worried, but waited. There were times when I would slide past him, that worried him worse, but he waited. I was SO proud of Koda! We made it down the hill together. It could have gotten ugly for any of us, but it didn't. The horses all behaved amazingly well!

The trails were well marked once you were on the right one, but the crossroads (of which there were a lot) were impossible to tell which direction to go. We were lost more often then not. It was pretty funny, all we could do was laugh. We had a trail map, but it wasn't accurate - how did we know? They told us...and then we found out first hand. Brad is a walking GPS unit, Troopers owner is an avid hiker, and Patty & I - well, we gave our input when all else failed. What really helped was using the sun as a guide.

Three quarters of the way into the ride we took another trail loop where we suddenly came upon a huge fallen tree. Brad hopped off Nemo, handed him to me, and went to clear enough of the branches so that we could dismount to lead the horses through the gnarly mess. We didn't turn around, because that would have made us lost-er.

Nemo and Brad, on the other side

It was our turn to pick our way through the trees. There was an overhanging branch that caught Koda's saddle horn just as we were about to maneuver through the worst part of huge fallen tree. Patty was behind me and yelled "you're snagged" just before a good sized branch snapped loose, with a super loud crrrack! Once again I was so proud of how my boy handled another scary situation. He held it together, even when the branch snapped wicked loudly above him. We were in a tight spot, with no where to go. I continued leading him off to the side as much as I could. He picked his feet up high, while choosing where they best fit in between the large branches. All the horses did great, no one jumped or panicked, and we all made it through. Whew.

We had checked the map and knew that path wasn't a horse trail, so we didn't take it - but, the marked horse trail we were on looped into it. When we made it out, we discovered we had been on it afterall. We eventually made it down to the road, and took that back to the trailer. The trail crossings didn't make any sense, the bugs were coming out and sun would be setting soon. Over four hours later, the trailer was a welcomed sight We had some pretty tired horses, and riders - but we all had a fun experience! 

I was reminded:

- Paddock boots and muddy hills don't mix

- Can't count on cellphone GPS, we had no reception on the trail

- Maybe my horse does trust me after all

- Keep my trail camera on auto-mode, no time to mess with settings

- Pack snacks, even if you think it might only be an hour
- Adventures are fun!

I will be calling the Park Ranger to let him know we really enjoyed the park, and the flowering trails were beautiful, but they seriously need to mark the crossroads. Had the horses been acting up/worse weather - it could have been a much different experience. For any local folks, White Mound park is a mini-version of Governor Dodge - without the crowds & trail bikes. It's great for day trips, not sure if I would suggest camping there. The horse sites are pretty close together. Regardless we all agreed we would go back. I can't wait!!