Clark was beautiful and we got lost....sort of

When it comes to Clark State Forest---I need a seeing eye dog. Nicole and I did fine finding the right trail so that we could go down the switchback (which Nicole REALLY LIKED by the way), we crossed over a blacktop road, then later we came to State Route 160. At this point we kind of looked at each other as no trail head was evident across the road, and no markers of any kind. We really didn't want to start riding down the black top road because we didn't know if the trail head was on Casey Road or not. So we opted to return and ride part of the Pekin loop. We gave the girls a short break at the trailer so I could check pulse rates. Arabee came down first at about eight minutes and Phebes next after about ten minutes. Phebes was high because she had an emotional meltdown because I refused to let her canter to catch up to Arabee. Everytime she'd break gait we'd fall a little farther...and farther...and farther behind. It got so bad that we were backing up the opposite direction at one point (poor Nicole). Of course this made me cranky, and the horse was already cranky. On the Pekin Loop we ended up "somewhere" but not at all where we intended to be, but we did get in a total 3 hour ride, but only covered 14 miles vs. the 15 we'd hoped for. There were a lot of flat service roads on the Pekin (or what we percieved to be Pekin) and we did canter / trotting intervals. The girls seemed to both really enjoy that. When my GPS alarm started beeping I'd make her slow back to the trot or walk for a little while, then we'd do it again. When we got back the horses bothed pulsed down reasonably considering that we went faster than either were used to for part of the trail. Post ride eating and drinking was not good with Phebes. I can forsee another long vet hold if we determine we are even ready for this ride. Arabee dived right into her food at the trailer which is very good.

Nicole is a lot of fun to ride with, and she makes me laugh, which is good for the soul. ~E.G.