Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Trigger and Glory, the horses Susie and Leah rode

I have been waiting all summer for a day to come along that would be perfect for horseback riding. About a week ago I scoped out the extended weather forecast and our bank account, and finally... yesterday was the day! 

I love riding horses. Maybe someday I will own one I can ride any time I want, but for now, I'm content to go ride others'. Leah is an animal lover and would ride anything with fur. Susie, our daredevil Princess, comes naturally to things like riding horses. 

It was a perfect day!

We drove way out of town to visit Rainbow Ranch, Inc. in New Era, Michigan. Never been there before, didn't know anyone who had... just decided to check it out based on their website via a google search. :-) The day was mid seventies, clear skies, low humidity... and at the ranch, it was horses, horses, horses!

There were a lot of people there, but somehow we
three girls ended up on a private ride with a gal named Sarah for our guide. My guess is that the other (large, foreign, tourist) group there at the same time as us paid extra for a private group of their own, which left us to enjoy the awesome trails as our own family. So cool. 

"I don't have a very good feeling about this, Mom!"

Saddled Up and Ready to Ride

Leah's horse was named Glory, and Susie's horse was named Trigger. At first Susie was pretty apprehensive being atop Trigger, even to the point of tears, but Sarah explained that Trigger was dancing around a lot at the hitching post because of the flies, and as soon as we would get on the trails, he would calm right down. A little fly spray later, Trigger calmed down, and so did Susie-Sue.  

Sarah, our trail guide, rode in front, leading both Leah and Susie's mounts. I followed up behind, which meant I looked at a lot of horse butt for the hour long trail ride. :-) But I also got to listen in to the delightful conversation the girls carried on with each other and with Sarah. I didn't take my camera on the actual ride, so you'll just have to take my word for it that the trails were beautiful. Lots of ups and downs, fields, flowers, woods, streams, deer, birds, turns, trots - anything you could want from a trail ride, this was. Later on I asked the girls what their favorite parts of the ride were - they both said going fast was their favorite part, even though it hurt their bums! 

There is an option to take a river ride at Rainbow Ranch, which takes you across a stream and down through a pretty deep river for a while. Sarah said a lot of folks choose the river ride because it's a lot of fun to ride through water, and the horses particularly love it. Maybe next time we'll do that... I didn't do it this time because I didn't want to scare my children!

Right about the time my legs were getting tired, we got back to the ranch. Everyone was happy! 

 Especially Trigger and Glory, who got fed quite a few treats as a thank-you. 

I had to do the feeding, though. Neither girl was real anxious to get their fingers near those nibble-y mouths! We hung out around the ranch for a little while after our ride was over, just watching the horses and the activity. It was busy, but still peaceful. Leah wandered off a bit with my camera while Susie and I shared a Diet Coke to wash the dust down. These are Leah's pictures:

The Stables

Sarah's horse

Hanging out in the shade

A sweet, friendly cat

After a bit, we got hot, and the girls were pretty tired and I was pretty hungry. We asked the ranch owner where to go to eat, and she recommended Country Dairy which was about 5 miles from the ranch on the other side of the highway. So we went there and got a salad for me, sandwiches and cold, fresh chocolate milk for the girls. Leah drank two glasses of that chocolate milk! It was pretty tasty. So tasty, in fact, that she couldn't finish her ice cream cone. :-)

So, was it worth the wait and worth the drive? You bet. We loved it. Rainbow Ranch was a great place to ride horses, and it was the best ride I've ever been on. I would love to go again in the fall when it's cool and crisp and the leaves are turning. I hope Leah and Susie will always remember that time Mom took them to ride horses... although, maybe we will go often enough that it becomes a tradition. I wouldn't mind that at all!