Hoof Prints = Bad News~

We head up to the trails~

I woke to more fog...  socked in... & cold - 30.  Not too exciting...  So - caught up on chores, then - after lunch - the Sun broke through & the day turned Beautiful!  Saddle-up time for sure!  I was looking forward to a ride from home, it had been awhile since I'd seen our trails.

Hoof prints!

It had also been a Very Long while since we'd seen any hoof prints - besides our own!  I was flat out amazed!  We followed them for quite a way - they were heading up to the power lines.  It was cold up under the trees, but the air smelled fresh & sweet.

Our trails~

As we made the turn on the trail that comes out on the power lines - I was still following the prints.  Once under the lines though - the rock was so heavy that I couldn't tell which way they'd gone.

Out into the Sun~

We turned north, I wanted to see how one of my favorite wetlands had fared.   There were a few trees down from the wind & rain, but nothing that we couldn't easily get over.

Wetland~  Still as a mirror

It was gorgeous, almost warm out in the sunshine.  Farah found some green grass growing, so I let her graze for a while before we turned back.  I decided to head all the way down the hill on the power lines to see if I could pick up any trail.  Once there, we made the turn onto the paved roads of the future development that's been fenced off for several years now.  Surprise!

The gate & fence were GONE!

The gate used to be just where you can see the "leaf line" on the paving.  We rode forward & spoke to the couple that live in the house on the right.  I asked about the fence & was told that it was taken down last Fri.  Also, that people from there had ridden their horses back the way I'd come - so that answered that question.  They'd come in from the south - now that it's no longer blocked off.  Rumor has it that the development will start this year & all of the proposed housing developments that have been on hold due to the economy are now going to be built.

Our shadow photo :-)

Needless to say - I felt sickened.  Now that it's open & open up to the continuation of the power line trail again - I'll have to go back & ride where I haven't been able to in forever - until it is gone...
I felt subdued on our way home.  Listening to the silence, the birds, absorbing the aloneness that I crave & will miss from the center of my soul.   Twenty plus years we've ridden here - in the days there were just tiny trails through the blackberry, through the years of logging & ecological disaster, then through the years of  reprieve that have Not lasted long enough...

Heading home~

I've heard older people say that they feel they have lived beyond their time & never really understood it until lately....  Thinking of it all gone, going to yet more homes, yards, streets, noise & clutter.  People have to have places to live - but to see the sprawl come closer & closer...  Makes me want to find somewhere farther away...  When we moved here - our friends asked "Why"?  Why would we want to live so far out?  Now...  it's not far enough...