Thank you for your patience as pictures are loading.
Forest trail ride on horseback
So, once upon a time, back in my pre-teen and teenage years, I spend a lot of time on horseback. It's a recreational activity that I truly miss. I don't have regular access to a horse anymore, so about every 5 years or so, I dip into the pocketbook and make a sizeable dent to pay for the priviledge.
April allowed Bob and I to take a few unexpected vacation days around Easter, so we booked a private forest ride through Ricochet Ridge Ranch, just north of Ft. Bragg on the Mendocino Coast. Their website looked promising, showing cantering horses along the beach. It isn't much fun to finally be able to ride and be forced into the nose-to-tail walk.
After viewing a video on basic mounting, guiding your horse and dismounting, we followed the horse trailer another 5-8 miles up the road and onto private land for our forest ride. There was a second 'private' ride, so we actually ended up with a group of six - two trail guides and two groups of two. Luckily the other group was agreeable to the situation also.
Bob had also ridden before, but not since high school. We were paired up with two mares - mother, Malaeka (pronounced MAH-LEE-KAH) and daughter, Natasha. We mounted up and began our ride through the redwood forest, stopping a couple of times to allow the horses to snack and for stirrup adjustments.
Up into the hills
We weren't very far along before we tried a little trotting. That's when I remembered that posting (moving your body up and down with your legs to the rhythm of the horse) is much easier to do in an English saddle. We had requested Western saddles. After some bumpy riding, the guides asked if we would prefer to canter. A canter is a slow run, not as fast as a full-out gallop, and much easier to ride. Everyone agreed and off we went, alternating between walking, cantering and stops to allow the horses breathers.
Being nestled in the forest, I lost perspective of what the elevation was. Apparently we had climbed rather high as is evident from the views overlooking the valley we stopped to take in.
The end of the trail
Soon, it was time to head back to the barn, so to speak. We had booked a 4-hour ride, this time was calculated from the ranch and back, including trailering time, so we actually were on horseback a little under 3 hours.
Our final leg brought to the same field in the valley with the enormous flowering plum tree we'd seen from the ridge. Bob on Malaeka and myself on Natasha pose for pictures underneath it.
We had a good time and the next day fully understood why Ricochet Ranch books multi-day vacation packages and recommends lodging based on their hot tubs! Bob and I do intend to go back for another forest ride and yet again to try the beach ride along Ten Mile Beach.
