Endurance Riding

I first heard about Point Reyes National Seashore from a girlfriend of mine and for the last three years, I have been trying to plan a trip there. Point Reyes was on my bucket list titled “Places I Want to Ride Before I Die.” On Friday, February 17th, Jakob and I loaded Beauty and Asali […]

My 9-year-old son, Jakob, has recently shown an interest in endurance riding… I haven’t been doing this sport long at all, but I’ve already accumulated enough stories from the two rides I’ve done to spark his interest. When I found out that the Hat Creek Hustle endurance ride in Lassen National Forest was offering a […]

Yesterday Asali and I competed in the Wildflower JAMBoree, a competitive trail challenge (CTC) with the American Competitive Trail Horse Association (ACTHA). Mom came with us and rode Winnie. The competition was held at Camelot, in Butte Valley, not far from our home. Asali and I decided to cowgirl it up for this ride. I […]

I am really getting sick of this weather. We’ve had weeks now of rain, snow, sleet, and hail. With NO break in the weather. At least one sunny day here and there would be nice.   Today, I experienced another one of my “screw it” attitudes. I thought, “I’m going riding no matter the weather.” […]

This past weekend left us without power or heat for 60 hours after we got more than three feet of snow dumped on us! And of course, the tractor broke so we couldn’t plow the roads around the ranch. And then the generator broke, rendering the automatic waterers in the barn useless. So, how do […]

I was about to turn 27. I had grown up riding my entire life, but I had never had a horse of my own. I was in college. In fact, I had just been accepted into the competitive nursing program at Chico State University. The news of the acceptance was both exciting and terrifying. It […]

I didn’t get much sleep last night, but I woke up this morning wanting to ride down into the canyon. I don’t know why… I just wanted to spend time near the river and take some photos. I also just wanted to be with my horses. I decided to ride Asali and pony Forest. It […]

With all this talk of endurance riding and backcountry horse camping, Asali was beginning to wonder who was going to carry all of our gear (she doesn’t realize we’ll actually have a crew on our 100-milers). In fact, she told me the other day that if she was expected to carry me, she sure as […]

Today was an insanely frustrating day of training. I almost ended up in tears. I don’t know what happened or what went wrong because Asali was fine when we started out – although she was willing to go out, she was quiet and mellow. Seemed like a day I could almost ride her bridle-less. But […]

After encountering some crazy drivers while riding on the road, I wrote to my local newspaper… below is a letter to the Editor that was printed in Tuesday’s paper: Dear Editor, I am writing because my mom and I were horseback riding on Coutolenc Road in Magalia two days ago and experienced what could have […]