We parked in the same place and headed out on the other side of the river. The trail was nice and wide and flat.
Two lane horse highway. Seriously.
We trotted and cantered a lot. To the point where asking Ashke to canter was difficult and included a long, fast trot to launch himself into it. We didn't fight about it. He figured out that I would let him canter next to Cali if he didn't fight me. We cantered out. We cantered back. There was no fight. No pulling. Even a little bit of hand-galloping.
The boy in the background, handcuffed to his bike and beaten with sticks when he slowed down.
It was pretty hot, to start with, and even after the clouds rolled in, it was still very warm.
We didn't make it to the point where we could cross the river and turn up the other side of the Platte. Everyone was grumpy. It was hot. We turned back.
When we got back to the bridge to cross the river, there was a group of sixty year old women who waited for us to cross the bridge. They commented on how beautiful Cali was as N and her walked by. Then they saw Ashke. All I heard was, "He looks like a Unicorn" as Ashke pranced by.
8.7 miles and he was still dancing when we came in.
J managed to get a little video of him trotting. Pay special attention to the right hind leg as he trots. It's swinging forward without much abduction toward the left hind leg.
Overall, a decent ride.
I've always said he looks like the unicorns from The Last Unicorn. :) Sounds like a really awesome ride! It's wonderful to see how rapidly you and Ashke are progressing!
ReplyDeleteI loved that movie when I was a kid!!!!!! I still sing the "I'm Alive" song all the time lol.
DeleteIn high school I boarded at a barn just east of the highline and used it to get into Chatfeild almost everyday. I will have to look at some maps and see if I can find the trail we used, it wasn't a big trail, just a single track down the hill and through the fence from the highline.
ReplyDeleteFound it! Look at Google maps for N Sunshine Dr. it is towards the south end of the park, near the small lakes (which by the way a few have good footing and banks for swimming with your horse). Anyways, there is a trail that goes across N Sunshine Drive, right by where it turns and becomes W. Sunbeam Ave. You can see it on the map, it splits as it goes into the park, all single track. That goes right to the Highline. We came from the other side and had to go through the canal to get onto the highline and then into Chatfeild. We rode the highline both ways, to the south there is Cottenwood Farms (big boarding barn) that you go right past, they may allow haul in's to ride the canal. And to the north, you can also park at the south entrence of Chatfeild off of N. Roxborough Park Road (I don't know about trailer parking though, but looks like a nice round about lot of trailers), and the Highline goes right by that lot since it's right inside the park and the Highline is right outside. However when I rode there, there was the toy plane flying feild on the other side of the road. There was a great long stright streach to gallop along a fence line right there, but we did get buzzed a few times doing that. Not that our horses cared, but just so you know that side of the park has that area. If you go right out of the park onto the highline you won't have any issues though. Have fun! I love Chatfeild, and spent the whole summer before college riding it. It's somewhere I really want to go ride again!
DeleteAshke is a unicorn!! How come you never told us? Hehehehehe! :D I love the video of you guys trotting. I need someone to ride a bike with me and get video for me hehe.
ReplyDeleteLittle old ladies <3 Little old ladies who also think your horse is a unicorn?! <3 <3 <3 <3
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