Trusty Horses and Trail Blazing

A bunch of staff went out for a day ride today. We had breakfast and "congregated" in the cage - people throwing coats on, stuffing packed lunches into saddle bags and last minute fill-ups of water bottles.

Lauren (chef) came through and laughed, saying it was like "field trip day," which it really did feel like. We all had the day off, and we were exciting to spending the majority of it on the back of a horse.

We headed down to the barn, grabbed our horses and started brushing and saddling. I was planning to ride Gene for the day (an ex-race horse standardbred) but since Toni had her, I ended up with this pretty lady, Jess.

It was a nice surprise - I've ridden her once before and really enjoyed her. She used to be an endurance horse, and she's a 7 year old connemara and oldenburg horse. Lots of energy, super pretty, and comfortable.

We headed out at about 10:15, and once we got up past Jake's Trail, the trail-blazing began. There were several times where we had to jump off our horses and maneuver through fallen logs, bushes and rocks, but we eventually found a nice little sunny spot to stop for lunch. About 45 minutes later, we hopped back on our horses and headed back on the "trail." We ended up making a huge loop and coming back up the road toward the ranch.

It was an amazing day - 6 hours out in the country with great people and great horses. I'm so lucky to be able to spend my days off like this, and as I was walking away from the barn, with matted helmet hair, slight windburn and face coated in dirt, I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

Successful day.