On Monday we woke up, had breakfast, saw my friend off with the dogs and then got ready to go on a shorter ride. We didn't want to be out for as long since we would need to drive back and put the ponies away. We decided to take the Dutch Flat trail which climbs up to a ridge and then runs along the ridge for about 3 miles. It was really pretty along the ridge. On the left we could see down into the park Valley and on the right we could see San Jose and Silicon Valley spread out beneath us.
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| Silicon Valley from Dutch Flat Trail |
There was a scenic overlook at one point with a bench and picnic table. We hadn't brought our lunch and it was still early so we didn't stop for long, but we did pause for some photographs.
This was a really enjoyable trail to ride as it was a wide dirt trail on easy rolling hills. We walked, trotted, and cantered a bit just taking it easy.
And then my camera stopped recording the pictures I was taking, but I didn't know that until I got home. So I don't have any pictures from the rest of the ride. Which is a shame, because once we left Dutch flat trail, we rode through the lower ranch property including through a historic wooden corral. It was a really gorgeous day too, with beautiful blue skies and lots of hawks circling in the breeze.
We got back to the campground and had lunch before packing up and loading the ponies up to go. We drove about 1 mile to the exit and pulled over to check on the ponies and found that Nilla had already pulled the divider bar post out and knocked off the metal grill that separates their heads. We pulled the divider off and put it in the tack room. We couldn't fix the bar with a hammer so we had to just go without it. I put the trailer camera on to watch them and what I saw was insane. Nilla was basically throwing herself backwards and stretching down so far as to be in a sort of downward dog position. By pushing back on the butt bar, she was pulling the whole central divider out of place. She was also hurling herself side to side in the stall.
She trailered fine for months, so I don't know why she has decided just now that she needs to completely freak out the entire time she's in a trailer. This is clearly some sort of emotional/panic response and nothing to do with balance or comfort since she has been trailered just fine before and made much longer trips (4 hours) without issue. Anyone have any ideas?
Labels: Horse Camping, Mule Riding, Nilla, Shasta, Trail Riding
