Trail Adventures: Rudolph Bennitt Confidence Building!

Whew, this weekend was busy! Saturday was HELLA HOT, and my trail friend group actually ended up making some plans to ride early Saturday to beat the heat. I had already committed to boating that afternoon with DH, and I also was driving to meet up that morning with someone who wanted to trial the Custom (FINGERS CROSSED), so I ended up not being able to make it. Sad for me, but it looks like they had a blast! Sunday looked much cooler though, so I couldn't bear to let the weekend pass without hitting up a trail! And it worked out perfectly to take a small group (just me and two friends) up to Rudolph Bennitt. For ease of trailerpooling, one friend rode Trigger, I rode Ruby, and then we picked up a third friend who was attempting her first big outing with a new to her horse (legit the cutest pinto gaited horse, ADORBS). She had been riding him at her barn, and hauled out to a friends earlier in the week and he had been perfect, so she was ready to hit a bigger trail!

Ruby is always ready for the trails. ALWAYS. 

The morning did get off to a bit of a disastrous start when I hooked the trailer and the truck kept throwing a brake system error code -- SIGH. Since about February I have been intermittently getting that code and generally just unplugging the brakes, wiggling the outlet, and plugging it back in fixes the issue, but the brakes chose violence on Sunday and WOULD. NOT. COOPERATE. Originally DH thought the issue was the aftermarket bumper on the truck (whoever wired it in did a... uhhhh... questionably job, lol), but after more digging he thinks its related to some brake control module so a new one is on its way and hopefully that fixes the issue. Anyway, cue lots of panic, but friend who was riding Trigger saved the day by just bringing her truck over and hooking to my trailer. It made for a slightly later than planned start, but since the day was so (relatively) cool, it didn't matter much!

There was another small group at the trailhead we parked at, and they headed out the opposite way - we ran into them about halfway though :) the gun range was empty when we rode by, but we did hear some gunfire later, and we ran into some guys packing up fishing poles at the lake, but aside from that, it was a very quiet day! The friend with the new to her horse got to try him out at the front, middle, and back of the pack, and she also found some new gears in his gait! And she got him to canter up a few hills, which she hadn't been able to get him to do at home :) He was totally chill when Ruby and I cantered away and left him, and he didn't mind Trigger cantering up behind him - basically she put him through his paces in all kinds of situations he might experience on the trail to see how he reacted, and he was foot perfect. She got a good one :) there's one particularly adorable photo of me and Ruby riding next to them (although the angle makes Ruby look like a legit giant lol) but I (generally) try not to share too many photos of other people here because ya know, just because I put all my business on the internet doesn't mean other people do lol. Anyway, take my word for it he was cute. And Trigger surprised me again by being peppy for the second weekend in a row, and he had a great time with my friend (and even offered some canter, which is rare for him lol). 

I looooove riding across the dam. It's my favorite part of this trail!

Only one of the creeks had any water and Ruby immediately started slurping. She's such a good girl, she takes care of herself on the trail. 

Afterwards we sponged off the horses (I got these cool water carrying cubes I need to post about!) and then settled in for a picnic lunch. 

Not only did the friend we pick up bring us sandwiches (and Trigger's rider had drinks and chips), but she also brought a WATERMELON <3 which we and the horses got to share. It was so great. I was like "damn I'm now forever spoiled on trail rides if we don't have a picnic afterwards" lol

Black snek in the tree stump next to the porta potty. 

My screenshots no longer show up in Google photos when I'm trying to add media to these posts (no idea why and no energy to deal with it lol), but we did a little over 9 miles in under 3 hours. After I got home I had more chores, so by the time I finally collapsed on the couch and thought to myself "gee my ankle is a little sore tonight", my Garmin reminded me that I'd take the equivalent of 30K steps and climbed 47 flights of stairs and I was like "ohhhhh that's why" haha. Anyway. SUPER FUN day, and looking forward to more trail outings with both those friends soon!