Equine Egg Hunt Party

I recently attended the monthly potluck and playday at 4 Winds Equestrian Center and we were celebrating Easter with an Easter Egg Hunt on horseback, and a farewell party for one of the boarders.

One of the desserts brought for the potluck: an equine themed apple pie!

We alll gathered together in the Sky Box for a special game to honor, Karen, the boarder who will be moving out of state soon.

The game involved a basket full of old rusted metal parts and bits of broken glass found on the 4 Winds Ranch.

Each of us were asked to pick out one of the items and create a unique imaginary story about it.

Many of the stories were very funny and entertaining.

Lots of laughter ensued.

And some of the stories were quite thoughtful and emotional.

And a few tears were shed.

Karen was touched by everyone's participation and special stories. And I'm sure she will treasure that basket filled with all of those little rusted bits of memories.

Afterwards, it was time to tack up our equines and meet up inside the indoor arena to receive instructions for the egg hunt.

We formed teams of 2-3, some of us gearing up for a fun adventure, while some were scheming for a competition.

We were all excited, like kids, to head out and start searching for eggs.

Many of the eggs had fallen off the trees, onto the ground, due to the wind. So, we had to dismount over and over again. Sometimes, I'd remount after finding an egg, and soon afterwards, I'd find another ground egg and have to dismount again.

There were about 10 of us out there searching for eggs on a 1/2-1 mile section of trail. We were all over the place, riding among the trees, bushes, and hills. I thought that Apache might get concerned about all the chaos and having people and other horses popping out from behind trees and hiding behind hills, and heading away from other horses, but she was level-headed as always, and seemed to figure out pretty quickly that we were on a mission.

Even when someone's horse got loose and ran towards us, Apache just stood calmly. It was really crazy fun, and everyone seemed to have a great time.

It was also very surprising at how competitive some of us were over those little plastic eggs. Even I got caught up in the competitive spirit and raced around trying to grab as many eggs as I could for our team of 3.

But all that competition was still for fun and we all laughed and cracked jokes and whooped it up everytime someone found an egg.

Apache seemed to enjoy the experience, too. And she was very cooperative when we looked for the plastic eggs. I'd dismount and she'd stand while I bent over to pick it up and she'd sniff it and wait for me to tuck into my saddle bag, and then I'd remount and we'd go wandering around searching for more eggs. All the while, I was talking with Apache discussing where we should look next. It was a lot of fun!

We only had limited time to search for the eggs, and once that time was up, we had to ride back to the indoor arena with our eggs, to be counted.

Apache and I decided to follow one of the boarders who was leading her horse with the ranch Polaris.

Eggs were counted.....

And the winners were announced. My team found 14 eggs, which was pretty good, but the two teams that tied and won, found over 20 eggs.

Richard and Didi popped in to say Hello.

Denise and her Arab mare did the egg hunt on foot and were able to find a few eggs, too. It seemed to be easier to find eggs when you were mounted, though, because the eggs were easier to see.

After the egg hunt, a few of us decided to head out on a trail ride. There were originally 5 of us, but 2 headed back because the wind had kicked up and their horses were acting up. One of them showed us a different route to head up to a ridge where we could ride out of the wind, but it was really rugged and difficult to access due to the overgrown trail and the boulder steps we had to hop up, and that was where the other two riders backed out and the three of us whom had already reached the ridgetop, decided we didn't want to ride back down that rugged section again. So, we hollered down that we were going to continue riding and wished the other two riders well.

The ride on the ridgetop is completely in the trees, so we were comfortably out of the wind and enjoyed a wonderful ride.

I had ridden with this couple before, but only in a group of other riders. This was the first time I had ridden out, just the three of us, and I really enjoyed their company. We had a great time.

Apache and I led the entire ride, and she proved to me yet again, that she really enjoys being the lead horse.

And I was proud of her for being willing to head out on the trails, not just once, but twice, in one day.

Life is Good!