Earlier this week my plans changed from camping with Flash on the other side of the mountains…to camping with Flash on the beach. I ditched the high desert due to the forecast (20 degrees and snowing while camping in the back of my unsealed horse trailer is less my cup of tea), while my trainer is taking a group to the beach (50 degrees and raining I can handle!).

Today I find myself nervous for an entirely different reason than hauling over the Cascades in late October. Flash has been to the beach many years before I got him and done just fine, and I’ve been to the beach a grand total of once on a different horse…but Flash and I have never been to the beach together. Plus, some of my trainer’s horses are, to be fair, speedy demons and I still have only post pregnancy body strength, which means I’m not sticking with anything more than an easy trot and mild spiciness.

My last few trail rides with Flash in familiar parks with pretty steady horses has perhaps given me a false confidence with how good he’s been and how much fun we’ve had. I desperately want to enjoy camping with my horse, which I’m fairly certain we will tomorrow (55 and sunny!) but riding on the beach….I have a plan to just lead him down tonight when we get there and let him get any silliness out of the way while I’m grounded, but I’m still nervous. I’ve been setting my goals for each ride fairly low (stay on and have fun) but the beach with it’s wide open spaces for a good gallop (not happening!) and horse hunting waves and horse eating surf is a whole other kettle of fish.

So now I’m setting my goals for this trip as “Come home with everything I left with” and “get some pretty pictures, hopefully mounted”. Let’s do this Blondie!