Ridin' Solo: Broemmelsiek Park

Saturday night I checked the weather forecast, and Sunday's chances for rain were low and the temps were reasonably low for the time of year (mid-80s) -- perfect trail ride weather! I messaged a few friends to see if anyone wanted to haul out with me (or just meet at my house and ride one of my hooligans), but of course being such short notice, everyone had plans. Oh well -- not one to let the day pass me by, I decided to haul out solo! I rode Cinna in the morning, then took a brief break for a friend to stop by to pick up my Schleese on trial. Fingers crossed it finds its new home, it's too nice to just keep sitting in my tack shed :) then I had some laundry and things to do around the house, so I didn't hit the road until about noon. The drive was fine, although there seemed to be quite a bit of traffic on 70 -- good practice for our drive to our lesson! As I pulled in, four riders were just finishing up, and loading into the other two trailers in the parking lot. We exchanged pleasantries, then I headed out. 

Pre-ride snack of Outlast, yum. 

I realized belatedly that we hadn't fixed my stirrups since T borrowed my saddle, and my legs are not nearly as long as hers, lol. I didn't feel like getting off to fix them, and since we were just walking, it was fine. We didn't see a soul for the first half hour, then started to run into mountain bikers with alarming regularity. Aside from the first pair (who caught me off guard), the rest were very polite and we all maneuvered around each other carefully. 

Creeks were low, so she didn't do much drinking, just mostly splashed water around -- goober. 

The trail is mostly wooded, but we did enjoy a few forays into the sunshine. 

I did trot on one of the longer stretches, but quickly gave up since I couldn't reach my stirrups haha. 

Hands free is the way to be :)

We also ran into a few hikers -- they were all eager to pet Ruby, and I dispensed cookies with abandon (which is her favorite, haha). 

Briefly saw the lake, but the trail I was on loops away from it. 

Trail miles are the best miles <3 my soul needed this. 

One of the grassy areas adjoined some houses, and there were folks out there with a saw trying to cut down a tree. Ruby had some CONCERNS, so I waited for them to stop and then we politely skirted them and got the hell out of dodge lol. 

We stopped at the second to last water crossing because a family with two young kids were there and they wanted to come pet Ruby (and I wanted her to splash in the water and hopefully drink before getting back on the trailer for the hour drive home). I wish I'd taken some photos of them all together, it was darling. The girls were feeding her cookies and giggling wildly every time she snuffled their hair. Her head was about as big as their entire bodies, but they had no fear, just wanted to love on her. She is the best trail ambassador ever :) 

Last water crossing, she still just wanted to splash and snort around instead of drink. 

Some grazing before the drive back. 

I had been texting DH regular status updates (he couldn't come because he had a funeral to attend), and when I called him on the way home he asked me if we just met up at the trail head.... "We?" -- "Yeah, you and your friends"... "No, I rode alone?"... he was HORRIFIED haha. I am pretty sure I had told him I was going alone, but I guess it didn't really stick, oh well. The drive home was equally uneventful, and I hosed Ruby off and turned her out. 

I didn't realize how long it had been since I made a haul like that completely alone -- back when I was showing a lot (pre-blog era) it was no big deal for me to load up two horses and haul to a show 2 hours away and show off my trailer all day, but I really scaled back on my trips from 2016 on and I was a little surprised that the first few minutes made me a little nervous before I settled back into my normal solo routine. Looking forward to reacquainting myself with those feelings as I work towards some new goals!