Calling all Indiana trail riders!!! Let this be the place where we can share info on Indiana trails, schedule to meet up and ride or whatever else you want to chat about.

If you're not from Indiana but really want to chat you're more than welcome!!

Well, here I am sticking my KY nose into IN business again. But I just had to tell Tuffy that I, too, have a trail mount named Sheba. She is a 12 year old SSH.

When we first started breeding our own, I was going with Biblical names. We had Shadrach and Meshach and then Bathsheba - which was shortened to just Sheba. Hubby made me quit before I got to Abednego...said people could not pronounce the names.

Then we went to reindeer names. I had a Dancer, a Dasher and a Vixen.

Yeah, I know I'm goofy.

lol yeah, that was her name way before I owned her and she knows it too!!

Hey guys- Good idea to start this thread, Tuffy!
I thought I'd share some pics from my trip to Colorado this past summer...

My mare Quincy, ready for a ride.


Water break. HAd to wait for the wind to blow to get fresh spring water- it was cold!!!


Running the Mares and foals in for am feeding.


This day was an all day ride, so I rode a ranch horse.


Pretty scenery!


Sunrise over one of the pastures.


Hope you enjoyed the pics!!!
Megan

[ 11-02-2007, 03:36 PM: Message edited by: meg1506 ]

Very nice! I'd love to go there someday! You have a very nice horse, I love palomino's!

Those pics are beautiful!!! Love the palomino, we have a mini palomino.

Anyone in the N half of IN? Seems most of you are south.

I'm sure there is....

Thanks! I love my mare- I'm partial to color. My first horse was a palomino, so there is a soft spot in my heart for them!

CO was pretty. We weren't near any mountains, but the scenery itself was so different and amazing. We were located in the Pawnee National Grasslands, so hearing the stories (while sitting under the cliff itself) of how the Indians used to run buffalo of of cliffs, etc was breathtaking. I enjoy visiting places that many years ago something historic happened there.

Anyone else made any trips with their horses on extended vacations?

The farthest I've ventured was to Shawnee Nat'l Forest. Very pretty! The weather could've been better, but we still had fun! I'll post some of my trail ride pics!

Here's some pics of Shawnee Nat'l Forest, we stayed at the Double M Campground.

We have ridden the Shawnee twice and it is some of the most beautiful riding anywhere.
Did you go throught the one horse gap? That was really fun. It goes up between two HUGE boulders and is so narrow at one point, you have to pull your feet out of the stirrups and put them on your horse's neck!!

RIDE ON!

Shawnee is a lot like Hocking Hills in Ohio. Very pretty with lots of caves to ride into. Airplane rock is a great site to ride to.

Nope, didnt get to see one horse gap, would've liked to though. I've seen pics of it on the net.

I frequent:

Midwest, Brown County, Owen-Putnam St. Forest, Greene-Sullivan St. Forest, Fowler Park, JW Jones and some private properties.

That's awesome! I can't wait to get out and go on some trails next year!

I posted on the other post. Oh well I am not going to repeat myself. Good to see everyone on here from Indiana. I will try to stay posted and up to date with you guys. I was out of town and away from my computer all weekend. Went down to Louisville to the North American. One of my 4-H kids got first place in the Horsemanship class. Both judges picked her first. It was awesome!!!

Congrats to you and your kid!

That's awesome! Congrats!
I read your other post, I bet I've seen you at Yellow Rose before. I go there occasionally just to watch. I thought about going to the one this weekend, but I think we're having my brother's B-day party on Saturday. He turns 7 tomorrow.

Beverly R- We named our goats biblical names too, there was Naomi, Ruth, Ester, Boaz, Mordecai, and Obed. I think Abednego would be cute!

Yep, I bet you have seen me, because if I'm not announcing I am riding a big bay mare, who is a little hyper going in the pen. I still love her though. I have another horse that I trail ride with. I like to walk, not prance all the time. LOL!!! Yes we are proud of her. She represented our county great!!! What a great kid she is also.

Congrats on the show! How exciting! It's great to see these 4-H kids put in all that hard work and it pay off in the end. I bet you are very proud!

I love working with the 4-H kids. Sometimes the parents can get a little testy. We need to make a date to meet up with everyone that is intested. It is always fun to meet new horse people. Especially if you are from Indiana.

My sister competed in the Gibson County fair for the first time last year, I got to help out and stuff. It was alot of fun. Her horse is 6 and isn't trained to neck rein, so she didn't ride, but got 1st in Halter (mares) in senior division.
We didn't have a trailer when I was in 4-H so I didn't get to show 4-H... That's ok, I get to be her personal groom. LOL

Anyone doing any riding this weekend?

I would love to go but wouldn't be able to leave town until after 1pm.

Also- are bridle tags required year round, or just during set months? I don't have any and am planning on waiting until spring to get some since I won't be riding much now that the weather is changing...

I would love to go, but I am announcing a horse show on Saturday, and a bunch of us gals are getting together for our girls weekend. LOL!!!! We have a blast when we do this. We bring our horses and just hang out all weekend. This year we are going to someones barn, since we had to wait so long into the fall before we could all get together. I think this year we are trail riding on her farm, Karoke, scavanger hunt, and all sorts of other things. I am really looking forward to it.

On the DNR website it says that horse use tags are not required between December 1 and the last day of March.

I hope to ride Tank in the arena some this weekend. We have so much to do to prepare for winter still. We are trying to get everything put away and stuff.

I rode alittle around my place yesterday and I think I'm going to take advantage of Veteran's day and go over to a friends house and ride tomorrow.

I didn't get to do any riding this weekend...
I finally got a hold of our hay guy who's been avoiding us for two months. He sold the hay he promised he was saving for us. Soo, we searched everywhere and found a guy who has has pretty close by, but we have to pay double what we we're gonna pay. But at least we have it!

But I did learn a valuable lesson...
Never turn down a date from your hay guy

Well, didnt get to ride today. With temps up around 68 we had a good chance for t-storms all day, it was really windy too. And when it did cut loose it was bad. But before the storm hit I did clean out my trailer (much needed).

The weather is so unpredictable here this time of year. A couple of years ago we had a tornado hit 10 miles up the road in an Amish community. It was during the school day so I was worried about the kids. Luckily we are at the end of the building with the basement... (but I think more worried about all my animals at home!)

Rained all night , I think. Makes for a muddy mess. Tuffy, at least you got the trailer cleaned out- no fun doing that in the cold!

Yeah, the tornado on Nov. 6 in Evansville was bad. You don't expect a tornado in Nov. It's great they did all those habitat homes.

Here in N Indiana we had a few tornados that hit Napannee, IN but what did the most damage were those straight line winds. We lost about a dozen trees - some snapped off half way up but most were ripped up by the roots. BIG trees too. We were without power for 3 days and there were so many trees and power lines down on the road that we were unable to go anywhere. My horses were OK and no damage to the barn. I would have to say that this was the worst thunderstorm I had been through and not looking forward to any more.

[ 11-14-2007, 08:45 PM: Message edited by: dgRuffian ]

SInce we have gotten some Indiana people on here, does anyone think we should start an Indiana Trail Riders Club? Nothing fancy, but think about some good places to ride and dates that we can set in advance? We can plan a calendar and then there won't be any last minute scrambling if someone were to say "Let's go riding this weekend!"
Any takers???
PS- It would have to start after the new year I think, with the holidays coming up, people are awfully busy.

That would be awesome! I'm in.

i'd be okay with it.....i agree to wait until after the first of the year. by the way, i hate the fact shotgun season starts tomorrow

Yeah I hate hunting season when we try to ride. We have our own trails but we still have to watch out because we're surrounded by hunters and you never know who doesn't use the "thinking side of the brain". The first year we we're out here, my parents made us wear neon orange when we went in our own woods.

I agree too that we should wait till the new year. I love riding in the spring, don't care too much for the winter. Unless there's snow on the ground, then it's worth it.

Yippee!
We can go ahead and talk some dates and places for next year. Those that have experience with riding at some of the local forests can suggest places. We can then pick maybe one sat or sun a month and set a place to ride? Maybe a ride date and also a rainout date in case the first ride that month has yucky weather???

Should we start in March? Feb is still unpredictable?

Plenty of time to plan and organize! How fun!

I think it would be cool if we could all meet up at the Hoosier Horse Fair in Indy its April 4-6 that could be our kickoff to the riding season, plus they have the DNR booth so if anyone needs to get a tag.....

I really want to try to go to Pike State Forest. I talked to someone that lives 2 miles from there and she said the trails are great and there's alot of them. There's beginners trails and good ones for experienced riders too. The park is 3000 acres.

I've never been to the Hoosier Horse Fair, it sounds fun.

[ 11-17-2007, 07:22 PM: Message edited by: equine_luver5008 ]

The hoosier horse fair is great! It has demo's, tons of shopping, food. Anything and everything horse you can find there. And for the most part its inside. Clinton anderson did a demo there a few years back! Stacy Westfall was there last year.

That's so cool!
In 2005 we went to the Equine Affaire in Louisville and watched Clinton's Demos for 3 days, it was so cool. The shopping was fun too They had so much stuff.

It would be cool to try to go to the HHF and save some cash for shopping

HHF is a great idea. I have been wanting to go to Midwest for a couple years now. My horse is currently in rehab from a back injury so hopefully I will be mounted by then.

Ruffian - what happened to your horse??? Back surgery sounds serious!

I have been to the Hoosier Horse Fair before, but it has been at least 10 years... I can remember lots of booths and demonstrations- very neat. Too many things to see/do/BUY!!!
I think that's a good plan, Tuffy

Equine- 3000 acres is a lot! SOunds good that the trails are different levels and well maintained. We should definatly plan on going there for a ride next spring!

Meg I don't know. No surgery though. I took him to Big South Fork and think he injured himself on all those hills because he has not been right since then. I have regretted going ever since. I have had him to 3 different vets, 2 different chiropractors and 1 massage therapist. And he is still sore. So now we have jacked up his rear heels to see if that works. It has been frustrating.

Count me in. I haven't been to the hhf for a few years. Sounds fun.

Ruffian - oops! Quick reading- my brain told me surgery! Glad it isn't that serious! Was it an all day ride in rough terrain that you think did it?

Yes, HHF would be a great place to meet up and kick off the riding season! Glad you joined in justjokinaround...the more the merrier!

Yeah, justjokin welcome!

Welcome JustJokin!

Where in Indiana are you located?

Hi! I'm new here, glad to see an Indiana group!

We try to go to HHF every year, love going to see all the horses and Shop!

We usually ride at Double M, High Knob or Willow Creek, we tried Midwest this year, really nice there. Had a trip last month to Pike with our 4H kids, great place for green horses and riders.

Look forward to talking with everyone!

Welcome Emmy!! Its sooo great to have sooo many Indiana riders. Midwest is my fave place to camp!