First Sunday in March

The John Mace Ride in Kingsville was a fantastic organized ride sponsored by one of our horsey clubs, the weather was great, had a good turnout, about 35 riders; grandmothers, grandfathers, moms and dads, kids, teenagers, everybody had a good time.

KC was fantastic, on his best behavior and the kid's ponies were so cute and capable. Those kids were real riders, too. No whining, just great horseman.

The Gunpowder River was high and fast and some of the smaller horses, KC included, had to swim a few strokes or more while crossing.

At the pit BBQ restaurant there was a 'salamander' type heater and several of the riders were trying to dry out their soaked socks. I saw more than one take their boots off and dump water onto the lawn.

On the return trip from the first bar and pit BBQ most everybody opted to take the bridge on Philadelphia Road instead of swimming across the river again. It was quite a sight seeing about 30 horses stop traffic on that bridge.

An awesome ride - it was mostly galloping, some swimming, lots of running, flying lead changes, trotting and flinging mud. Not too much jumping. Even Tom was surprised at what a good boy KC was! No pulling his head down, no bucking, just doing what was asked. We had ridden there before - the rocks are highly exaggerated. The trails were in fantastic shape and we rode to TWO BARS - Glad we made it to this awesome ride. About 35 riders made it out for this great day of fun, food and bonding.

In between the first bar and pit BBQ and the second bar our little group was stopped up ahead of us and one of the guys was off his horse, sitting on a downed tree branch. Tom asked what he was doing and he said he wanted to break the branch, was waiting for us to get past so that when it did break it wouldn't spook the horses. I said, 'why don't you cut it,' and he said he didn't have a saw. I do, so I gave him my folding serrated knife and he cut through it in less than 60 seconds. I try to be prepared, right?

Resting at the two different locations were good for the boys, too, it was a warmish day and they still have most of their winter coats. KC is shedding, but not enough for that ride. He was damp around the edges and needed the rest.

The ride location was over an hour drive, ride out was 11am, left after 9 so we could also buy Diesel, this was the longest we've left Max in the crate, too. Some time during the day, he tried to break out and did a fair job of it, except that he didn't clear his legs from the cage door, so he was trapped, like a coyote in a trap.

Tom rescued him from his manufactured predicament, but he now has welts on his ankles. Apparently he did the same, only worse, at his Foster's house. He still has the abrasions and scabs from that event. Now use latches on both barrel bolts and he's been unable to break out since.