Basic Information:

 

The reason our trail rides take longer than scheduled is because we are here to teach you basic natural friendly horsemanship, not just pop you into a saddle and give you a ride.  We don't take out first time riders but require at least a bit of experience.  We want you to catch your horse, halter and groom your horse as well as learn to put all the tack on him/her if you have forgotten how, or we can do that for you.  Then we will take a ride of approximtely one and a half to two hours but it could be longer depending on how fast we go, where we go, etc., which somewhat depends on you as well as the weather and time of day or evening.  And then when we get back we would like you to untack your horse, bath him/her if they need it and answer any questions you might have about caring for a horse [we don't know it all, but we are constantly learning every day from years of horse ownership and lessons taught the hard way sometimes].  And if it's not unbelievably rediculously unhealthily scorching out, we usually will grab a chair in one of the pastures [in the shade] to hang with the horses for a few minutes with a cold drink and a light snack, which we keep around all the time.  When it's cold out we like to start a fire in our firepit and sit around telling tall tales and maybe roasting marshmellows.   We are women and we all like to visit, so this is always a fun way to spend just a bit more time together before getting back into our real lives. 

 

 Some clothing suggestions:  if you have a sports bra made out of steel, wear it, and if not, we wear the best one we can buy because even though we post our trots, it can get a bit uncomfortable, if you know what I mean.   We know it's tempting to wear shorts when it's hot out, but none of us do that because we get our legs scratched up by tree branches, etc., on the trails.  If you don't want to wear a helmet,

                                             we sometimes wear baseball caps or wide brim hats with a string so that if it falls off you won't have to get off to get

                                               it.  And if you wear glasses we suggest you might want to get one of those string things that go around your neck

                                              to not lose them if they fall off.   And lastly, we all wear some type of boot or sturdy shoes.  Hopefully you won't get

                                               your foot placed right where the horse is walking, but we all have experienced getting our toes stepped on by a

                                               thousand pound hoofed animal and it's not fun if you aren't prepared for it.  Finally, if you are doing this whole

                                             horse thing right, your clothes and shoes will get dirty and muddy, not to mention your face and hair, etc., so

                                        remember that this is not a beauty contest, except of course for Miss Lexi, Miss Aerie and Miss Jinx who are

                               always trying to convince us that they are the most beautiful gals of all time.

 

Expect that you will have a sore rear end the day after riding.  We will provide you with extra padding on your saddle, but we still get a bit sore in the rear as well as in our knees while riding and we do it almost every day.  For us it goes away within minutes of getting off, and yours may last a day or two until you get in better riding shape.  You will discover that riding correctly is a bit of a workout and you will discover muscles you may not have been aware of prior to your ride.  In fact one of our basic rules is that you have to be physically fit enough to get on and off your horse all by yourself.  And please no one over 225 pounds for our horses safety.   Remember horseback riding especially on natural up and down and around trails is considered a pretty strenuous physical activity.

 

All rides include the opportunity to vent if needed as well as a bit of equine therapy naturally, some quiet zen time with your horse and nature, and hopefully a time of making new friends.  Our motto is 'what's said on the trail, stays on the trail', so we have a tendancy to talk pretty openly about everything as women do, but we also respect eachothers privacy.

 

You will have the option of staying with the same horse or trying different ones if you come back more than once.  Each of these choices has it's advantages.  If you stay with the same one [the one we thought was best for your size and experience level initially] you get to know his/her quirks and personality which makes you learn faster, but on the other hand if you ride several horses you become a better horsewoman overall.  We will be happy to move you onto the horses who will build your confidence as you go if that is what you want.  So that will be up to you and depends somewhat on which horse is available and that is determined by their teaching schedule and first come first served requests.  They all have their very real personalities and quirks and you will fall in love with every one of them.

 

Our riding times are flexible and depend mostly on the season.  During the hot summer months, we start our

ride at 9:00 in the morning [or earlier if requested] or 5:30 in the evening because it's just too damn hot

to ride during the day.  When it cools off some we can schedule them during the day with more flexibility.  If it's

going to be really terrible riding weather [rain, lightening, freezing, etc.,] hopefully we will know that enough in

advance not to schedule any rides that day, but we/you may want to reschedule at the last minute if its looking like

it would be not such a good idea to risk it.   Or if either of us just can't make it for some reason, we will have eachothers

phone numbers so that will be easy to do [reschedule or cancel] and I know you will be as thoughtful of our time as we will

be of yours.  If you ever, even once, schedule a ride and just don't show up with no call, we will never, no not ever, schedule a

ride with you again simply because if you can be that thoughtless with us, heaven only knows how you will be with our beloved horses, right?

 

We will provide saddle packs [on request] which can carry any drinks or snacks you want to bring.  If you want just cold water, we can provide that but if you want something else you are on your own.  Please don't bring more than one beer or limarita or other not too strong cocktail because we aren't strong enough to carry you home when you fall off your horse and can't get back on.  And please absolutely no littering [leave no trace, right?, all you old girl scouts] and no smoking as that is a fire hazard everywhere in this drought stricken state of Texas.   Please do bring your camera and we will use it to take pictures of you if you want.  We may even be able to take a video with your phone but we are not such good IT people so that is an iffy possibility at best.

 

Your safety, as well as ours and our beloved horses, is our main concern, so if we see you doing something stupid or dangerous, we will not hesitate to tell you and we expect you to do the same for us.  If you don't feel comfortable doing something, like going down a sand hill with your horse or crossing the creek or whatever, please just tell us.  We were there once

too and have no problem with your hesitation, although we promise we will not

ask you to do anything on our rides that we feel you can't handle with your

horse and level of experience.  If you are like us and are getting back into riding

again, or have not spent too much time in the saddle yet to be really confident, don't

worry.  We haven't lost anyone yet and don't intend to.  But be careful, some of our

gals have gone from riding once in a while to horse ownership in less than a year

with our help.  You know how it goes . . . be careful what you wish for, right?

 

Please don't ask us to take your kids under age 16 out as beginner riders. 

We have found that they just don't have enough strength or experience to control

these horses and the result is that the horses start thinking they can do whatever

they want which is an easy way to teach them bad habits. 

If you have kids that are between the ages of 11 and 15 we

are in the process of starting an arena program for them to learn to ride and care

for horses with a human instructor and when we feel they are confident enough

they can join our trail rides.