Jumping Around CHP

 The weekend after Labor Day, we had a rare free weekend. I reached out to Eryca to see if there was anything she wanted to do. She quickly suggested Christie Hoffman, which is always lovely. It was Booger's turn and she hadn't been there yet. This was perfect. I figured we would do some little jumps and get a few easy miles in. We ended up doing a little over six miles. I was having a brave jumping day, and Booger took me out of my comfort zone successfully, which was awesome.

I really need to invest in a jumping saddle. (Add it to the list of expensive things on my wish list at the moment.) I also need to shorten my stirrups about nine holes. Booger does a good job making up for my failures though.

Xamping

 Last year, there was a NACMO ride at the Tuscarora State Forest. We did not manage to go, and I was sad to miss out on camping and new-to-me trails. When Dodie invited us to go camping with her and Melissa at Tuscarora over Labor Day weekend, I was all over it! Then Melissa invited Sandy and Sandy invited Emily. As luck would have it, there are only five campsites at the equestrian campground, so we had the whole place to ourselves! Dodie put the trip in her calendar, only she misspelled "camping" as "Xamping". By the end of the weekend, we had turned xamping in to a whole thing. 

Pulling Plates at Green Lane

 The day after my Stephens adventure with Sandy, I met Dodie and Jen at Green Lane to pull pie plates from the NACMO ride back in June. It was Lucy's turn, and she happily volunteered herself when I pulled in with the trailer.

September

 The year is rapidly winding down. September was packed. I still have to blog about Green Lane with Dodie and Jen (though that was technically August), fun camping in the Tuscarora Forest, an awesome jumping day with Booger at Christie Hoffman, another endurance ride, another NACMO ride, and an epic adventure with Sandy. Here are a million other things that have happened recently, but won't make it into their own blog posts. 

Adventure at Stephens

 The weekend after Fair Hill, it was Booger's turn for an adventure. Sandy and I were overdue for some shenanigans. We have been wanting to go up to Stephens State Park together for a while so when Sandy asked if I wanted to do that trail, I replied, "Sure, send me a pin to the parking lot."

She did. Then she added, "Don't panic when you see the ninety degree turn over the one lane bridge into the parking lot. If I fit, you'll fit."

Now. Sandy and I have been on some Adventures together. She has never given me any kind of warning about parking before. 

I checked out the street view. Not so bad:

Fair Hill Camping (Redux)

 Originally, I was planning to do the Horseshoe Bend Boogie in August. I was going to take Lucy and try the LD. Christine and I planned to ride together, like we did at the CTR. 

As the ride grew closer, however, neither one of us was feeling particularly gung ho about it. It was a lot of prepping, planning, and pressure. The more we chatted about it, the more lukewarm we felt about the whole thing. 

Finally I offered, "Or we could just pick a quiet spot and go fun camping instead..."

SOLD. 

We quickly decided to do Fair Hill. We made last minute reservations. I booked the same stalls Sandy had last time. I was looking forward to a weekend of just relaxing with no concrete goals or timelines. 

The week leading up to our trip, the forecast looked abysmal. It was supposed to rain pretty much the entire weekend. I was fine taking our chances. Worst case, we would leave the horses in their warm, dry stalls and hang out in the LQ, drinking and snacking and chilling. 

The weekend wound up being a great time.

Redemption Ride

 At my NACMO ride, my new friends, Sarah and Joe, expressed interest in coming out to help me take the course down. They referred to it as their chance to get a redemption ride. They wanted to see the plates they missed and learn more about how the sport works. I was all for it!

Originally, Sandy and I were planning to go on Monday, but the day got away from both of us. We rescheduled for Thursday, and included Sarah and Joe in those plans. Then Sandy's camping trip up to Bear Springs got moved at the last second. She was leaving Thursday night! I decided I would go with Sarah and Joe anyway.

"I might bring the Bad Horse™," I said in my message to Sarah.
"I want to bring my young stallion," she replied. 

What could go wrong?

It turns out, nothing went wrong. It was a perfectly glorious night with people who I really want to ride with more!

Inaugural Horse Days of Summer CMO

 (aka the Peer Pressure Ride)

The morning of the NACMO ride dawned with glorious weather. Cool, clear, sunny. The entire reason I planned my first ride for August was because I would be guaranteed to have no desire to ride in the sweltering summer heat. Joke's on me. I was thrilled nonetheless. 

Short version: the day was a success over all. There were a lot of ups and downs, but I would totally do it again. Most people seemed to have fun.

Eryca and Bryce ended up cancelling their trip to DC at the last minute. She came out to help me with registration, which ended up being a godsend since I had a much bigger turnout than anticipated.

Setting Up NACMO

 A Post in Three Parts

I had one weekend between Muckleratz CTR and my NACMO ride. This meant I had to buckle down and set my course, finalize my maps, and tie up all the loose ends. Of course, because this is me, the forecast for the following week included a hurricane. I knew I would need to check the course the day before to make sure nothing blew/washed away. The good news is I now know this half of the Assunpink really well.

August

 Oh hi, it's another month. I don't even know where to start. I set up, hosted, and took down my first NACMO ride. We went fun camping TWICE. I made new friends. Life spiraled on. Here is a photo synopsis. 

Here, have a photo of a buck we saw on our way to my NACMO ride. Entry coming soon.