Over the river and through the woods...

What an awesome weekend I had. The weather was perfect for camping! We ended up staying at the Florida Agricultural Center & Horse Park, which was a pretty nice facility. There are two 20 stall barns there and they are located about a 1/4 of a mile away from each other, which was really nice. There is a beautiful open hay field in front of the barns that provides excellent footing for a good gallop, and it also looks surreal when it is blanketed in fog.

The scenery was very nice, but the footing on the trails wasn't all that great. It would go from deep sand to decent footing to lots of roots, so we had to be very careful with the horses. Glori actually tripped pretty bad and almost went down on her front knees, but I sat still and she managed to regain her balance... she's such a nimble horse! I was able to let her out for a short time, which was just awesome.

There is nothing like the feeling of riding a horse... each of you have to trust the other, and that bond of trust is a unique feeling. She relies on me to not put her in a situation that is unsafe, and I rely on her to do the same. As I start to understand her better, I have come to realize that if I ask her to do things, she will do them as long as she feels safe. If I demand that she do something, it will probably happen, but it won't be with the same enthusiasm that I get from her when I ask her to do something. I think my next step with her will be to start the Pat Parelli program with her. I think it will be a good challenge for both of us and we will both benefit from it.

It was truly incredible waking up on sunday morning and seeing the fog over the field. We took the horses out into it and hand grazed them while drinking our morning coffee. It was a surreal experience and I truly enjoyed it. I feel bad for those of you that don't get out and enjoy nature... you truly don't know what you are missing.

Well, if you can't tell, I had a great time. I'm looking forward to my next camping trip! :)