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.

Riders4Helmets - Courtney King-Dye

I've been following Courtney's blog off and on since her traumatic brain injury 3 years ago.  I started wearing a helmet every ride over 9 years ago.  Courtney's horse just tripped while she was working in an arena.

Below is her video for the Riders4Helmets symposium.  Here's her blog if you are interested in following this brave woman's struggle with rehabilitation and riding again.   Ckd Dressage

Looking Back on the Cracker Trail

Warning up front......  lots of pictures follow.

I've been back from the Florida Cracker Trail Ride for 3 weeks now and am taking the time to post some great memories.  The ride was a little less stressful for me this time because I knew what to expect having been once before in 2011.  I had a wonderful group of ladies riding and camping with me and it was an adventure that I'll never forget.  Starting outside of Bradenton, FL and ending up in Ft. Pierce 7 days and 120 miles later is a fantastic way to recreate and honor Florida's history.  To share it with my daughter, Jenny and my friends Cathy, Michelle and Christina made it more special.  Another friend, Marilyn, who has done this ride each year since 2005, was there as well sheparding a newbie to the Cracker Trail.  My pony, Stylin, was awesome!  She carried my big ole butt everyday without complaint and finished up looking and feeling great.  The week started bone chilling cold in the high 20's and ended up in the mid 80's.  I had to pack plenty of clothes for me and Stylin.  I clipped her 2 weeks before the ride because it usually runs pretty warm this time of year.  Started the week with her medium weight blanket, switched to her canvas sheet and she ended up naked at the end of the week.  Her short coat made it much easier to keep her groomed and comfortable during the day.  I did practice my whip cracking skills and can now crack two 8 foot whips at the same time.  :-)

The photos following are in no particular order...........   :-)

 Chilly breakfast at Bar Crescent S Ranch

 Stylin loves to scrub her butt in the sand and play in the water

 Christina and Jenny at Ft Pierce

 Frosty morning window

 Bundled up with hot coffee- Christina, Cathy, Me and Muleman

Me, Cathy and Christina cooling off later in week

Parading for the kids at Cracker Trail Elementary 

 Cathy and Jenny at the school

 Yummy dinner

 Gathering at Hickory Hammock State Park

 Jenny, Lumir and Jen-O at Ft Pierce

 Jenny tries out a real Cracker Horse

 Jenny cracks her whip for the kids

 Marilyn and Elizabeth on their pretty mules

 Jenny and Maybe in shallow lake

 Donald and his mini mule Luna - they led the ride

 The kids loved the mini mule

 Michelle, Christina, Cathy, Me and Jenny

 Riding the historic Cracker Trail

 Mr. Bill hitches a ride with Busta and Cathy....Oh No !

 Through the fragrant orange groves

 Parked the horses to have lunch in Ft Pierce

 Parked at local accomodating bar

 Mobile porta potties followed us

 Road riding

 Ranch riding

Jenny, Michelle and Christina warm their hand

More road riding - Elizabeth on left, me on right 

Working the crowd in Ft Pierce after the parade- Michelle and Stylin's son Ranger next to us

Stylin is a good ambassador!

Stylin and Ranger get ready for the parade through Ft Pierce

Video showing Jenny and Christina cracking their whips in the parade

This one shows me, Michelle and Cathy ...you can hear us whooping.  :-)

And this last one is of me and Michelle messing with the whips at camp.... the sound is much louder and similar to a 22 gun shot in person.         HAPPY TRAILS

Still Going Strong

Got to take my old girl Dixie out on Saturday for a nice 3 hour tour.  Her sight seems to be getting a little worse, but she is still going strong.  A nice walk through the woods was just what the doctor ordered for both of us old gals.  Thanks to our buddy Shelly for joining us on a relaxing ride.

Me and Dixie 

Shelly and Willy

Happy Hoofwear Shoes

I'm so pleased with the poly shoes by Happy Hoofwear that we are currently using.  Stylin moves out so confidently since she's been wearing them and we just completed the Florida Cracker Trail across the State of Florida in a pair that was already 14 weeks old and had been reset 2 times.  Here's a video that Sylvia Norris, CEO of the company made with me, my daughter and our horses.

Fun with Dogs and Zombies

A couple of weekends ago, my friends and I went to the Florida Horse Park in Ocala for some camping and fun riding the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway.

We were happy to discover that they were having Jack Russell Terrier races at the park that weekend as well.  It was so much fun watching the little guys running over the little obstacles chasing the little fake critter.

While riding on Saturday, we crossed over the I-75 Land Bridge

Then at the 49th Ave Trailhead.... were we stopped for a snack and potty break...we ran into ZOMBIES

As we go ride through the underpass we go through a lot of the brain eaters.....they were filming a movie

You can see me in the middle talking to them...making sure they were not hungry  :-)

We rode thru some beautiful winding trails

and then rode around on the FHP property, looking at the cross country course and enjoying the wide open spaces

We enjoyed an relaxing evening around a fire in Cathy's new fire pit

Life is good!

Here are the rest of the pictures that Mustang took.

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