King is doing great at trail riding on his own with no other horses. He is so sensible!
We took the homeschool crew on a hike at the Nature Trail by the lighthouse, and we saw 3 enormous water moccasins. Two of them were right off the trail and one was in the pond. I gave the kids a little tutorial on how to identify a water moccasin.
They have a reputation for being aggressive, but they’re really not. I was able to gently move one of them off the trail with a stick and the other one was completely still until we passed.
A fall sunset too pretty for words. Pictures don’t do it justice.
I had kids at my house all weekend and we did a visit to the barn. Hunter’s friend rode Donkey for the first time. Donkey mostly cooperated.
My daughter in her Hatteras winter boots.
I took one of the kids that rides with me to the beach. She rode Baron and I rode King. If this isn’t a magical childhood, I don’t know what is. I would have killed to do this when I was 13.
King and Baron at the trailer. They are both so calm and good. I could not ask for better horses. You can see in this picture that King’s feet are still long. Little by little I’m working on getting them back to a better shape. Also, I’m aware that the kid doesn’t have perfect footwear. This was a spontaneous ride and sometimes you make do with what you have. We live at the beach and I have girlfriends who ride barefoot all summer long. It is what it is.
On Sunday I was invited to ride with the crew from Equine Adventures (tourist riding place). Their horses are working less in the off season and they like to keep them legged up. I rode Daisy, a Fresian/Standardbred cross. She was in bad shape when they got her and they’ve done an amazing job getting her healthy again. She’ll continue to gain weight and muscle. She was PERFECT to ride- everything I like in a horse. Big thick neck, big booty, will go if you ask her to but prefers to powerwalk. We did almost 8 miles on the trail and she was absolutely perfect, never put a foot wrong. I told them to call me first if they ever sell her. She is 100% my type.
We have mostly evergreen trees here, but we did see some fall color!
I am so grateful to be able to ride these trails and the beach here. The scenery is so cool.
Walking under the green canopy in the maritime forest.
Later that day I took three kids out on a trail ride- the two that ride with me and the little girl who owns Aaron, the brown and white paint in my pictures. That made it 11 miles of riding for the day. So basically, best day ever!!
Simple Southern 