To ride or not to ride? What a stupid question!

So I went on THE most fun hack ever today. But I have to tell you, the people I was riding w/ don't define "hack" as "lazy-trail-ride" the way I tend to hahaha. Oh no. There was a whole lot of power trotting, some cantering, a fair amount of bouncing-in-place (given that 2 of us were on TBs and the one who knew were we were going was NOT :) and a couple gallop sets :)

I, not knowing the plan (but admittedly easily convinced), was in dr tack :( Boooo on that. So stirrups promptly got rolled so I could at least get off his back... Still not proper XC length of course, but better.

3 horses, little RC who's full TB but not very fit, Johnny who's also full TB and IS very fit, and Cotton who's paint w/ who-knows-what in him. Both Johnny and Cotton upgraded to T the weekend I got here so they're pretty well good to go. RC was living in a field till a couple wks ago *g*

Some of the trails we were on were snowmobile trails, so they were A, in very good condition and B, signed. hahaha the one that had a "sharp curve" warning had grafitti scribbled on it saying "REALLY BAD". We took that particular warning to heart and slowed down a bit *g* -- I wish I'd taken a pic, but we were going entirely too fast for that.

Very good thing these are XC horses cause more than once we found ourselves in water obsticals; one in particular was entertaining -- bridge was under water and def not safe for horses... so we just went around the bridge and through the stream instead. hahaha there was another area where the path had been flodded out except for one tiny section in the middle of this "lake" -- we figure all good water complexes have something in the middle of them. There were also a few random logs etc that you just have to go over... hahaha

So being as we were on a mountain the trails twisted and turned and we were generally always going up or down. We quickly got into the habbit of going up a whole lot faster than down *g* But never super-fast cause the two of us on fast horses don't know the trail. But then the woman who was leading turns to us and says "ok so as soon as we make this turn, there's a gallop hill that should even tire Johnny out. You guys can be as idiotic as you want; I'll meet you at the top" hahaha So Johnny's rider looks at me "you ready?" oh yeah... But they've been doing cross all summer and have the 0-60 in a stride or less thing down. hahaha RC hasn't quite got the instant take-off down yet -- it took him 3 or 4 strides to really kick into gear -- BUT we caught up! And WOW what a ride. hahaha I haven't gone that fast in several years. Zel was VERY fast when she wanted to be, but not full-TB fast. I'd forgotten what that kind of ride is like. N of course the first time you duck to dodge a branch the horse takes your weight-shift as a sign to go faster... hahaha There was one turn that little RC did entirely on his own cause I couldn't even see where we were going! Good pony :) Now we were, in fact, going almost straight up a mountain -- n I could feel RC run out of gas b4 we reached the top... But of course, being a TB, was running on adrenaline and had NO interest in stopping. And I admit I just let him go :) I could see where it ended so I didn't think he'd really come to any harm. N was soooo much fun, for both of us *g* But I def made sure he got a nice long walk break at the top of the mountain. I was very impressed that he could keep up w/ the other (fit!) TB -- I really hadn't expected him too. The last horse made it up a min or two later... She also galloped, but on a different scale *g*

So once we break through the trees at the top of said gallop hill all of a sudden there's this stunning vista. Unbelievable views of the mountains around. And there's a random telephone pole in the middle of the field, which Johnny's rider immediately trotted over to "here Laur, you have to sign the book." ummmm ok??? So there's a box attached to the pole, and in it is a zip-locked bag w/ a book and writing untensils. Sure enuff, messages from all sorts of people who made it to the top of the mountain w/ dates etc... They *think* it originated w/ the snowmobilers logging miles, but seems to have been taken over by everyone. So yes I signed the book :) They told me I couldn't dismount to do so, so I'm not convinced it's legible, but it did amuse me. N of course RC was tired enuff after the gallop up the hill not to wander toooooo far.



I'll tell ya, much as I enjoy the fall hack w/ the ladies @ home (you know who you are) every year -- this just blew that all away. The unbelievable scenery and crazy mountain paths, combined w/ the adrenaline rush XC. D I really wish you'd been here for this one.

I'm still grinning. Hours later.

Pics if you're interested: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=175028&l=abe99&id=823765365