Dancing Horse Farm: September 2008

Fall is here! The trees are turning color, the day and nights are getting cooler, the apples and pumpkins are abundant, and the bugs are going away! We've been riding as much as possible. Kate and I took Tapper and Jazzy on a very long ride a few weeks ago. We went up through Dutton, to Stagecoach Rd (not really a road, a trail), then turned off onto the trail to Lower Bartonsville. I really like that trail and it's a lot better now that Jim has been working on it. He and Barb own some of the property the trail runs through. We met Jim near the bottom - surprise! He has put a gate across the road to keep out vandals, but he left space for us to get the horses around, Thanks!!! From there we turned left on Lower Bartonsville Rd and followed it to rte. 103. Of course, first we had to meet the tourist train, the horses were very good with that, and cross a covered bridge. They would NOT go across, so Kate got off and led Tapper across and Jazzy followed her. Then we scooted across 103 and rode up it for a short time. We saw all kinds of cars, trucks, tractor trailers, and motorcycles and the horses did great! We then scooted back across 103 to Willam's River Rd (a dirt road). There we had to cross another covered bridge, this time Jazz went across with a little encouragement and Tapper followed him! Williams River Rd ends at Brockway Mills Rd by the gorge, so we went left up the road to get to the other end of Stagecoach Rd, followed that back to Dutton, and then home - 5 hours!!! We were (horses and people) really tired, but it was fun!!! Kate has been borrowing her brother's GPS unit and mapping all the trails we ride. It will be great to see it when it's finished.

Tracy has been doing a lot of round pen work with Starlight, and taking lessons from Kate. Starlight is being a bit of a brat and giving Tracy a hard time, but they are working on it and making progress. She took a break from Starlight at one point and hopped on Dolly for a few minutes!