I was able to attend the Big South Fork Ride for the first time. What
beautiful country. My two daughters and I arrived Friday afternoon, my
youngest turned 8 yo in August and this was her first ride, my oldest is 11 yo
and this was her third ride. Parking was extremely tight, those that
arrived early in the week made very large paddocks, I had to take the only spot
left and made paddocks barely large enough for my 3 guys to stand in, But we
were there! :) The weather was perfect, sunny and cool, at least cooler
than North Georgia. :)
We unloaded and Sarah, my youngest took her pony and they went for a walk
to stretch legs, my oldest, Lauren took both my mare and her gelding and went
for a walk while I set up camp and the electric fence. Once everyone was
settled, we went in search of where we are to check in and for the
vetting, not too hard to find. They asked for us to wait awhile, while the
last of the days riders was vetted thru. While we waited an hour or so, we
braided manes and tails, then headed up and vetted thru, this was Sarah's
first vetting in, we had talked it thru on the way up and we always trot out at
home or out riding, so she didn't have too much trouble. Her pony,
Princess, is 20 yo and this was her first ride that I know of.
Saturday morning, went smoothly, I was able to get both the girls moving
easily enough. Sarah only needed a little help getting Princess
saddled. Lauren takes care of her gelding without any help, I just look
over and make sure all is in the right place. Skye, my mare was
full of herself..
We started out near the end to avoid any trouble, as we are
heading down the trail, we would come up behind another rider, Sarah would
say "can we pass, can we pass?" And away we would go. What
fun! I think she is going to be very competative when she gets the handle
on how everything works!
We arrived at the vetting and vetted thru perfectly.
The next loop was just as fun. We made it in just as the rain
started. We vetted out without any trouble. What a perfect
ride!
I asked Sarah if she enjoyed herself. "Yep, when's the next
ride?" Hmm....Yellowhammer or Hallelujah(sp?) . I
asked her "What did you like so much about it?" She said, "We talked and
laughed going down the trail, passing everyone and riding the fun trails.
When can we top ten?" Hmmm.....There's a question. I
say, "We have a way to go before we can do that." We rode 30 miles in 5
hours, the winning time was 3 + hours.....
Lauren loves it, she'd be gone every weekend if we could.
Guess I have two riding partners now. I'll have to look for the rides
that let's juniors ride free!
Thank you, Eric and Knoxville Arabian for putting on such an
excellent ride, how to see you next year!
