New Photo

While I was at McCulley Farms Spring Withlacoochie Trail Ride, their in house photographer, Yvette Palmer took this nice picture of me and Style.

Getting Ready and Enjoying the Weather

We been riding almost every weekend and trying to get some conditioning in.  Stylin and I are joining some friends to participate in the Florida Cracker Trail Ride again this year.

Our group of friends enjoyed a Christmas camp out at the Spirit of the Suwannee Campgrounds where we meandered the trails along the Suwannee River, played games on horseback including musical feed bags, relay races and broom polo, enjoyed campfires, awesome food and fantastic fellowship.

Stylin and I warm up for the games

Shoe tree along the trail

Jenni & Anna demonstrate how to pee from horseback

Busta shows how much he trusts Cathy

Partial group shot 

We had such a good time and have ridden together many times since December, but I haven't been taking pictures.  We've been hitting Jennings State Forest pretty hard and riding the 16 mile loop to get our ponies in shape.  Here are a bunch of pictures that Mustang took during the Christmas Camp Out.  PHOTOS

Celebrity

My girl, Stylin, was used in a photo shoot recently by Bonnie Estell Photography.  She behaved very well and I think they had a successful shoot.  I hope to be able to get a full size image from the photographer soon.  My daughter bathed her and took her to the location where she helped as a wrangler and jumped up and down in the background to get her to perk her ears.

Cracker Trail Video

I just found this video on YouTube from last year's Cracker Trail Ride that shows me and my friends at the start of the video. I'm on my Paint mare Stylin, then Michelle on Linc and Jenny on Maybe right behind me, then Marilyn on her little mule Bonnie come by in a few seconds. Nice way to relive a great time last year. I hope to do it again in 2013.

SUPERSTAR !

Said while doing a deep knee bend and both arms up in the air! I'm so tickled........ The Ride America manager of the Paint Horse Journal contacted me a few months ago to get some information on trail riding in Florida and of course I obliged and sent her some photos. I just got a copy of the March issue a couple of days ago and guess who's featured in the trail riding section..... that's right.....c'est moi avec mon cheval. Me and Stylin baby! Well....it's not all me, there is a gentleman from Florida who also contributed - but how cool is it to see your name and photo in a national nagmag? If you subscribe to the Paint Horse Journal the trail section starts on page 90. If not, here's a LINK to a copy of the article.

Getting Together With Friends

I had the opportunity to ride with my good buddies, Cathy and Traci, at San Felasco Hammock Preserve in Alachua County yesterday. I absolutely love these trails as they are the closest place around with such a variety of trails with rolling hills and creeks. We share the park with cyclists and they are all so polite....they either stop or announce theirselves so that our horses aren't spooked.

We saw a big ole rattler on one trail and a cottonmouth on another. The rattler was quietly sunning himself about 3 ft off of the trail. Later in the day, we stirred up several deer.

At one point, Cathy had a little hitchhiker on her helmet. Don't worry, no tree frogs were harmed in the making of this blog post. Of course her horse Busta went down in the water .... AGAIN.....

San Felasco is very beautiful....I wish they allowed overnight camping. It makes for a long day with a 1-1/2 hour drive out there, a 4-1/2 hour ride and then another 1-1/2 hour drive home. It's still well worth it!

Friday evening, my good friend Charlotte came over for dinner and we had a grand time catching up on each others lives. She doesn't ride anymore since her gelding died last year, but if she's ever ready, she knows that she can come with me anytime.

We had a great meal that my husband Bobby prepared and then chatted for hours. She was so sweet to bring me flowers!

Today, Bobby, Mom and I drove to Gainesville to celebrate my Mother in law's 78th birthday. We had a great visit and a yummy lunch. We stopped by my daughter's place in Melrose on the way home.

Here are the rest of the pictures of the weekend..... PHOTOS (I'll add Traci's photos tomorrow)