I used to despise the fall and winter because it meant no riding after work. After all, no one could ride in the woods in pitch darkness,... or could they? Now the early sunsets mean that it is time to begin my favorite rides.
I have found no sensation equal to gaiting through the woods on a Spanish mustang, whether he be SMR, Shackleford, or Corolla. Last night at the conclusion of a great night ride with three other riders, I allowed Tradewind to take us home directly through the woods. The trail twisted and wound through holly trees, pines, and around fallen oaks. He never missed a step. We never bumped a tree. He never spooked and neither did I.
Monday night we start our first scheduled night rides of the fall and it looks like we will have a big turnout.
Daytime riding in a community where my family has lived since the 1600's gets me in touch with my horse. Night riding in the same woods, as my ancestors did for more than two hundred years, keeps me in touch with myself.
Night riding is the best! It makes you trust your horse in a way that few other things do, and on top of that it is just plain fun.
ReplyDelete-Emily
yeah, night riding is really fun.
ReplyDeleteThat brings back memories!
ReplyDeleteNighttime riding in the winter is pretty chilly here in the Midwest. When I was a child, I got home for school early enough to ride before dark. I loved to go night riding when the moon was full in the summertime.
When I was a adult, I was taking riding lessons outdoors at a near-by farm. I rode my pony there and back. We held the lesson for as much of the year as we had daylight after work. That meant I was riding home in the dark early and late in the season. While I normally rode on the roads, when it was dark, I rode through the woods. I got us terribly lost the first time we did that and my disgusted pony finally got us home. The next time I had to close my eyes and let my pony take us home. (My pony would go in whatever direction she felt me looking.) Once she got a good trail established, I could keep my eyes open.