Bolender Horse Park! - Day 1

Farah & Connie, end of our second day~

When you're lucky enough to meet Great people, who own & operate a Super facility & plan a weekend for their guests as good as ours was...  it makes for many happy memories!

When our Sno-King Saddle Up group posted a meet-up at Bolender Horse Park for Valentine's Weekend, we made our reservation.  We usually plan a trip this time of year, it's our mutual birthday weekend & February can surprise us with decent weather.  I first heard about Mark Bolender & Mountain & Extreme Trail Courses from a friend.  When we pulled into the beautiful facility on Fri. afternoon, we were met by two interns who directed us to parking & had a stall ready for Farah!  We soon met-up with Leigh & her husband Jeff who had already managed to get a recommendation for what I think must have been the best restaurant in the area for dinner!  Yes!  Our kind of people!  I'd told Heather & George about the clinic - so they'd come too!  We all turned in pretty early, excited to get started on Sat.

Mark & Lee could not have been more welcoming.  On Sat. morning after we'd had breakfast, we met in the arena.  Mark gave us an overview of his plan for the weekend.  His low key, easy going attitude put everyone - including our horses at ease!  There were obstacles set up in the arena & we were to work our horses in-hand - learning to "send" them through the obstacles.

Mark explaining our goals for the day~

There have been many times in my years of riding when I felt like the obstacles we managed to clear were "extreme" - so I was really excited to get out on the course & see how Farah would do.  She was probably one of the younger & less experienced horses.

Mark taking Farah through the first of the obstacles~

Once outside, Mark asked me to send Farah through the first obstacle.  She evaded...  my intent was not clear enough!  He took her lead & she did exactly as he directed the FIRST time.  He handed the lead to me & she did it for me!  Yippee!

Farah Loved the teeter/totter!

I could not believe how easily Farah did the teeter/totter!  No problem!  Both directions & even turning a 180 in the middle!

She rushed the suspension bridge, but soon accepted it easily!

We had so much fun & did so much that it would take a book just to cover what we learned about ourselves & our horses on this day!  From the more experienced riders to we amateurs - everyone went away with a huge feeling of accomplishment!

That was far from the end of our day though - while we'd all be busy out on the course, Lee had been busy setting up for our "Valentine's Dinner"!  How nice, to clean-up, sit down & enjoy the company of some really special people.

Super way to end a Super Day!

We were all excited for the next day & riding our horses on the course!