Riyah On the Ponderosa at Last!

Wow, what a ride! Crystal clear blue skies, and early summer green mountains all around--it was truly spectacular! Gail picked me up and we decided to ride up the Corral Road in the canyon thinking that we would catch a short loop of the Ponderosa trail from the top. That way we could see a little of the trail but we wouldn't have to cross the "raging" river. We would just ride back to the trailer the way we came.

But it was just so gorgeous, and Riyah and Annie were being so good, we decided to be flexible. We rode the four miles UP (up and more up)the Corral Road, adding in a little off-shoot trail for a mile or so, then we caught the Ponderosa trail just beyond the cattle tank and rode all the way down (through the bogs, and muddy Salt Creek) three miles to the river.

The river has gone down some, but it is still very fast and strong. Riyah was too anxious to go first, but she boldly followed Annie across! Woohoo! For as little water practice as she has had, she did great! I was very proud of her. Both horses made it safely across, and Gail and I headed down the paved canyon road four miles to the trailer parked down by the cattle corrals. What we didn't expect was traffic in the form of dump trucks carrying gravel for road repairs! The one driver didn't care about speed limits or horses in the road and the two times he passed us he popped his air brakes as he went by to see if he could cause some excitement. Don't you just love people like that? Anyway, it didn't work as Riyah and Annie were very good about the trucks. Riyah was far more concerned about the "trucks entering highway" sign with two orange flags! I mean, who cares about ten ton trucks rumbling past at high speed when there are two orange flags out to get us?!
It was a great ride--good conditioning for the horses, LOTS of training ops (rocks, bogs, creeks, the big river, noisy trucks, and flagged road signs!), not to mention spectacular mountain views, wildflowers arou

nd every turn, and great company!

The river doesn't look so big here, but it is challenging; it's always rocky, but with the high spring run-off you can't see the rocks. We actually crossed in a fairly wide area and it wasn't too bad. We followed the river as we rode back to the trailer and it's amazing to see the power of the water when it narrows. Definitely a place to be cautious.