Trail Riding

The clinic that we all thought started today actually starts tomorrow. That meant that we could take both the morning and the afternoon trail rides today. No complaints from me on that! Right after breakfast, everybody was assigned a horse. Mine was named Kalifi. Many of the horses here have themed names (like many of the Iditarod mushers do with their litters of puppies). The Arabians, which Kalifi is, are named after towns in Africa because Mel, one of the owners of the ranch, travels to Africa a lot. I learned that Kalifi is a town in Kenya. After we all got our horses, we had to ride to a small outdoor arena to take a riding test. The wranglers wanted to make sure we each had a horse that was a good match and that we had been put into the proper group of riders (not too hard, not too easy). The test was a little bit hard because this week I have to ride Western, and for the whole time in Colorado I was learning to ride English dressage. They are very different. Many of us had a hard time making the change. I was very proud of myself because after my test, I actually got moved up to a little more challenging group which meant that we'd be doing walk/trot rides instead of just walking. The rides were a lot of fun and really pretty. There are lots of wildflowers blooming right now, so we saw lupines (pretty purple flowers), the bitterroot flower (which is what the ranch is named after), wild roses, and the Indian Paintbrush. We also got to ride on a really high trail along a ledge that went right by the river. It was beautiful to watch the water flowing over the rocks and boulders. In the afternoon, I rode a different horse named Bashara. It was another really great ride. I didn't take any pictures today during the rides because there was no saddle bag to pack a camera in. I asked for one for tomorrow, so I hope I can take some pictures during the ride. Here are some photos I took before dinner:

Every night, the entire herd of horses gets turned out to the pasture. It's amazing to see them all galloping up the hillside. Their hoofbeats are loud and there is a big cloud of dust. 

wild rose

At the end of every ride, we bring the horses to this part of the river. They get a drink and they stand in the river for a few minutes. Our wrangler explained that the cold water helps soothe their muscles and prevent injuries--kind of like how some runners take an ice bath after a long run. 

A view of part of the ranch--what a lovely setting! 

We saw a lot of scenery like this during our rides today.

I walked to the pasture where there are four mares with recently-born foals. The wranglers told us that the owners like for guests to go in and pet the mares and foals. Guess where I will be going tomorrow!