Harmon Den Trail Ride #3

For my birthday I wanted to go trail riding at Harmon's Den to Max Patch. Located in the Pisgah National Forrest, NC this is one of my favorite riding spots. This year my husband Brian decided to join us on the ride. He rode Izzy and looked great in his breeches and tall boots! She took care of him and now is officially husband safe. Dad rode Jasmine, mom's walking horse so the pace was trot, walk, trot, walk. Gaited horses and trotting horse don't really mix, but sometimes you have to do it. Lindsey rode Ritza and Erin D. was on Taos and I was on Bella.

The last 30 minutes of the ride was the most exciting as dad took us on a short cut "trail" back to the trailer to keep us off the road. The weeds were about 4 ft high and that was OK until we got to a creek we had to cross. Searching for a way down into it ended up going through a very deep mud pit. Jasmine almost fell down, as she hates boggy spots, Ritza jumped it so huge Lindsey almost went into a tree. Taos walked/jumped through it, Bella jumped it and now it was Izzy's turn. Brian was getting worried about what she was going to do and he was more worried about landing in the mud pit! But Izzy just walked through it calmly and then stepped into the creek calmly- unlike all the other horses who felt the need to launch us into the creek as well. Every ride needs a little excitement and moments were you almost come off, but stay on to tell about it later. We rode for 5+ hours and were more than ready to have a beer at the trailer, courtesy of Brian, and eat at Cracker Barrel on the way home.