Southern Pines Walthour-Moss Foundation
Yesterday I participated in a "Poker Ride" organized by the Moore County Hounds in Southern Pines, NC. This ride is basically a glorified and organized trail ride. The general gist is this, you ride in teams of two or three. You are given five cards in which you try to get a great poker hand. You ride out on a marked trail and you have three checkpoints. At those checkpoints you may discard and pick cards to better your hand. Then at the end of the ride you turn in your cards and the top 6 hands get a prize.
To be honest it was not about the poker or the prizes. It was all about the trail riding and the lunch after. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day, somewhere in the mid seventies and sunny. The foundation consist of 3000 acres in which are dedicated to horse activities and land conservation. One can go trail ride, driving or fox hunt through the foundation. No vehicles, walking or bikes are allowed. It is hard to describe how wonderful it is to have access to something like this. The trails are very wide and very well kept, the vegetation is burned off from time to time and there are plenty of jumps set up along the way.
I believe I heard that on this particular path we were sent, there were something like 22 jumps. Of course being the dressage princess that I am, I chose to go around the jumps, not over. I don't like it when my horse leaves the ground. That is why I chose dressage.
There were a lot of humors moments when you get this kind of crowd together and out trail riding. Especially with young horses, hot horses and "hydrophobic" horses. Yes, my trainer took out a client's horse that is completely afraid of water. The only water we had to cross was a small creek about 3 feet wide and 6 inches deep. The water was moving, but there were nice banks on either side so most horses just hopped over. Not this guy, it took 30 minutes, and three different riders and countless suggestions to finally get him over. I still am not sure how they are not still out on the trail and how they finally got him over. But he is safely back home and no where near water other than that in his bucket in the stall.
To be honest it was not about the poker or the prizes. It was all about the trail riding and the lunch after. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day, somewhere in the mid seventies and sunny. The foundation consist of 3000 acres in which are dedicated to horse activities and land conservation. One can go trail ride, driving or fox hunt through the foundation. No vehicles, walking or bikes are allowed. It is hard to describe how wonderful it is to have access to something like this. The trails are very wide and very well kept, the vegetation is burned off from time to time and there are plenty of jumps set up along the way.
I believe I heard that on this particular path we were sent, there were something like 22 jumps. Of course being the dressage princess that I am, I chose to go around the jumps, not over. I don't like it when my horse leaves the ground. That is why I chose dressage.
There were a lot of humors moments when you get this kind of crowd together and out trail riding. Especially with young horses, hot horses and "hydrophobic" horses. Yes, my trainer took out a client's horse that is completely afraid of water. The only water we had to cross was a small creek about 3 feet wide and 6 inches deep. The water was moving, but there were nice banks on either side so most horses just hopped over. Not this guy, it took 30 minutes, and three different riders and countless suggestions to finally get him over. I still am not sure how they are not still out on the trail and how they finally got him over. But he is safely back home and no where near water other than that in his bucket in the stall.
posted by Dressage Princess @ 5:23 PM
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