Great Pond Mountain Wildlands

On Sunday September 20, Jill and I went to get the boys from the field.  They were as far from the gate as they could get!  Six acres can take a while to cross, when laid out in an L.  Look carefully, they’re both here:

Jill and Ellen hauled their horses over to the Great Pond Mountain Wildlands.  Zephyr and I hitched a ride with Jill.  She bought a pair of Fuzzy Logic Equine riding pants from me… here we are, styling in our Ready 2 Ride pants!

 

 

We headed north on Valley Road, then Flagg Road, then Hillside Trail.  Despite the promising start, we soon lost the trail in the woods, and decided to go check out the scenery first before trying again.  jill had forgotten her breastplate and her saddle was slipping badly, so i gave her mine.  i had to expand it from the smallest setting all the way to the largest!

While checking out the scenery, we got a few really great opportunities to canter, which was excellent for Jill and her greenie, Joe.  We had some great conversations about “finding your seat of power”, and effective equitation versus classically correct equitation.  Eventually we turned back and tried Hillside Trail again.  This time, I led and watched for the gray-blue slashes on the trees.  We made it!  Great trail, with more great views.  I like this trail, it’s the only footpath-type trail that the Trust currently allows horses on.  I think it’s a great way to prove how small an impact horses can make on woods paths. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures from that section.

 

(my capital letters just stopped working and i have no idea why.)  here we are back out on valley road, with great pond mountain in the background.

zephyr finished the day in great shape despite all his hooves being bare. 

we had such a wonderful time!  it was only 4 miles or so, and maybe 2 hours if i remember right, but we just really enjoyed ourselves.