Epic Horse Camping Trip
Long post is going to be graphic heavy ^.^
So this past weekend we (Dave-my fiancee, and two of my best buds Ashley and KT with Houston, Splash, Zero and Phyllis) headed up to Sandaraska Park by the Ganaraska Forest in Pontypool, just south of the Kawartha Lakes.
So after some confusing trailer issues (Trailer people showed up at the wrong barn first, etc etc) and me being sick all morning - I don't do too well with Zero on the trailer - which doesn't make sense as he loads and trailers like a pro star lol we finally arrive at our campsite! The horses settled right in and we pitched our tents and got everything set up for the rest of the trip.
We decided to head out and go for a "short" trip into the Ganaraska Forest at around 4:30 - we figured we'd go for a hour or so then start dinner. WELL...that was the plan, we were told the maps and trails aren't awesomely marked and it was very much the case! So we got lost and turned around and around and around.
We finally made it back to the campsite at just after 8:00 just as the sun was setting! Oops - so much for our nice quick ride.
We had a tasty salad, roasted chicken and roasted corn and smores for dinner and then we settled in for the night with the ponies safely tucked away in their stalls.
We then got a lovely wake up call at 5:30 AM from the ponies telling us they were hungry, we don't know who started it (my moneys on Houston) but after all 4 of them were going. We fed hay and went back to sleep to a more acceptable hour :P
Had breakfast and got ready to go out in search of the pond in the forest - we had a plan and the map so we were confident we could not get lost this time - we also ensured we remembered the compass. heh heh. This ride was much more successful - we didn't get lost, we found the pond, I got soaked because Zero loves to play with water, went for a fun gallop through the forest. Zero was a little hot this ride so we did a bit of galloping, and I may have had a blast racing Dave and Houston. And we were out for around 3 hours but it was waaaay less stressful.
We chilled for a bit back at the campsite and then went for a swim in the pool by the head office - it was a nice refreshing swim. We took it easy that afternoon and night and were pretty much in bed by 10 - we were fun of steak, potatoes, salad and chocolate melted bananas. The horses were tired too - all of them slept well that night - we didn't get any 5 AM wake up calls. - although that would have been helpful to get up early so we got in one last ride before the trailer came.
Much to Dave's grumbling we got up early and headed out for a ride before breakfast (lol), we ended up just playing around in the big open fields in the park - but it was a blast! Dave wanted a rematch and he won this time - although i'm clearing holding Zero back in the pics. Not that i was trying to but Zero's top speed scares me a little lol.
We also maybe set up a jump with our left over hay to play around with :P (and Dave playing on my saint of a horse ;P)
We loaded up the horses on to the trailer and finished packing our junk. A long ride back to home but eventually everyone was safe and sound at home and it was a fantastic weekend :)
So this past weekend we (Dave-my fiancee, and two of my best buds Ashley and KT with Houston, Splash, Zero and Phyllis) headed up to Sandaraska Park by the Ganaraska Forest in Pontypool, just south of the Kawartha Lakes.
So after some confusing trailer issues (Trailer people showed up at the wrong barn first, etc etc) and me being sick all morning - I don't do too well with Zero on the trailer - which doesn't make sense as he loads and trailers like a pro star lol we finally arrive at our campsite! The horses settled right in and we pitched our tents and got everything set up for the rest of the trip.
We decided to head out and go for a "short" trip into the Ganaraska Forest at around 4:30 - we figured we'd go for a hour or so then start dinner. WELL...that was the plan, we were told the maps and trails aren't awesomely marked and it was very much the case! So we got lost and turned around and around and around.
We finally made it back to the campsite at just after 8:00 just as the sun was setting! Oops - so much for our nice quick ride.
We had a tasty salad, roasted chicken and roasted corn and smores for dinner and then we settled in for the night with the ponies safely tucked away in their stalls.
We then got a lovely wake up call at 5:30 AM from the ponies telling us they were hungry, we don't know who started it (my moneys on Houston) but after all 4 of them were going. We fed hay and went back to sleep to a more acceptable hour :P
Had breakfast and got ready to go out in search of the pond in the forest - we had a plan and the map so we were confident we could not get lost this time - we also ensured we remembered the compass. heh heh. This ride was much more successful - we didn't get lost, we found the pond, I got soaked because Zero loves to play with water, went for a fun gallop through the forest. Zero was a little hot this ride so we did a bit of galloping, and I may have had a blast racing Dave and Houston. And we were out for around 3 hours but it was waaaay less stressful.
We chilled for a bit back at the campsite and then went for a swim in the pool by the head office - it was a nice refreshing swim. We took it easy that afternoon and night and were pretty much in bed by 10 - we were fun of steak, potatoes, salad and chocolate melted bananas. The horses were tired too - all of them slept well that night - we didn't get any 5 AM wake up calls. - although that would have been helpful to get up early so we got in one last ride before the trailer came.
Much to Dave's grumbling we got up early and headed out for a ride before breakfast (lol), we ended up just playing around in the big open fields in the park - but it was a blast! Dave wanted a rematch and he won this time - although i'm clearing holding Zero back in the pics. Not that i was trying to but Zero's top speed scares me a little lol.
We also maybe set up a jump with our left over hay to play around with :P (and Dave playing on my saint of a horse ;P)
We loaded up the horses on to the trailer and finished packing our junk. A long ride back to home but eventually everyone was safe and sound at home and it was a fantastic weekend :)