Rosedale Park

This is pretty much our life at home. Mud. Walking. Everything is brown. 

To say that all of the horses and their humans at Orchard Hill have cabin fever at this point in the year would be an understatement.

This has been the Eternal Winter. Every time the weather seems to be making a turn for the better and spring must be inevitable, it snows. It's cold. It's wet. It's miserable. Everything is mud. Riding at the farm still entails a whole lot of walking, very low key hacking, and not much else. Any time we manage to escape and get off property it's usually to an indoor, and while I'm grateful for those opportunities, Dino and I are over it.

So when Kim invited us to come with her to trail ride at Rosedale Park last weekend, I leapt at the chance!

It was so, so sweet to finally get OUT, and on a beautiful sunny day no less.

BLUE SKY! SUN! HINTS OF GREEN GRASS!

Dino and I were FINALLY back in our element out on the trail, and this park is absolutely perfect for between-season riding. Rosedale Park has six miles of groomed stone dust trails available for walkers, runners, bikers, and equestrians, and that means perfect footing no matter the weather. It was heavenly.

Glorious!

Everyone had the same idea we did that day, so the large numbers of humans on foot meant that we couldn't really ride any faster than a trot without risking mowing down some unsuspecting birdwatchers. But nevertheless, we had a lovely ride around the entire six mile loop. Kim and I got to catch up, the boys had a wonderful time finally getting to go somewhere, and it was a beautiful, refreshing morning for all of our souls.

Dino and Chance were rockstars, as usual, and traded off leading the way throughout the ride. When Chance was unsure about anything, Dino easily moved in front to lead, and happily yielded when Chance was feeling confident enough to go first. I was just so pleased with how these two worked together on the trail, especially considering that their relationship can be a bit contentious at home, and usually they have Sully to smooth things over and act as leader on the trail.

I just hope our near future holds more rides like this and fewer cold, muddy walks around the farm.