Trip to the mountains

Our time in the mountains was amazing! We stayed at Mountain Aire Lodge Oct 9-12 and rode in the mountains along the Red Deer River, in Ya Ha Tinda country. Koolaid was a fantastic partner (despite not being ridden for a good couple of months) and Cody did fabulous for a little guy! Our first day out, we rode for a good 3 1/2 hours and actually stumbled on a herd of wild horses - three mares, a foal, and a stallion. It was incredible to watch the herd interact. Cody was pretty convinced he should be a wild horse too, but after a bit the glamour wore off ;) I'd forgotten there were wildies up this way, and didn't realise they were right. Where. We. Were. Lol. Day one we mostly just rode on trails parallel to the road (but in the bush a bit). Second day we woke up to a little extra snow, but the sun turned up for a warm-ish day. We followed a logging trail up a ways, to a gorgeous mountain view (that overlooked the herd of wild horses we'd seen the previous day, grazing along a treeline below), then descended down a steep slope (which Cody and Koolaid had to slide some of the ways) into a valley. Then back up, down, up, down...lol - through the mountains and back to camp. You could see the trail continue endlessly on through the mountains - it was superb! Both horses were even better their second day out, more in sync with us. Riding through the bush Day two was funtastic, though the only "big game" we saw was a grouse. Or some type of fowl, anyways, haha. That was about the extent of our trip - we can't wait to be back one day hopefully soon!!

Koolaid - Day one the horses didn't have water yet (we got some in that afternoon), so we had to water down at the river.

Wild horses!

Matt on Koolaid, Day one

Matt and Koolaid at the top of the logging road, Day two

Matt and Koolaid walking through the bush down a trail, Day two

Oh, and PS. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope everyone else enjoyed the long weekend as much as we did!!