Guana Nature Preserve ~ Florida Riding Adventure

My next day of my Florida Riding Adventure was spent at Guana Nature Preserve.....and the beach. But I'll get to that part later.

First we drove from my friend KD's house and picked up her friend Cathy and Cathy's horse Busta. We drove about an hour towards the east coast until we arrived at Guana Nature Preserve.

Well, it had quite a long, fancy name, based on the rivers or estuaries that encircled the preserve, so we just called it Guana for short.

We quickly got the ponies tacked up.

I was riding a different horse that day, my friend KD's friend's gelding, Ranger. KD had actually bred and raised Ranger from her mare, Stylin'. But her friend, Michelle owns Ranger now.

Ranger is a pretty cool horse. He reminded me of riding my Apache. Really laid back, calm, quiet, a little slow and lazy at time, but can add a few gears for fun if asked.

Time to explore while KD and Cathy finish tacking up.

This is a sign I will never see in New Mexico!

Or this one!

Time to ride towards the trails.

Stopping to ask one of the trail maintenance guys about the best trails for horseback riders.

The trails were absolutely gorgeous!

I couldn't get enough of all the beautiful, lush green vegetation.

Of course that caused Ranger and I to fall further and further behind as I admired and photographed all the natural beauty.

But thankfully Ranger isn't a herd sour horse. He seemed to enjoy just moseying along and showing me the trails.

But my friends also stopped and waited for us to catch up every so often.

At one point we left the main trail for a short distance and bushwhacked so they could show me the Guana River. Ranger and I had to step over a little snake to get there, but it was worth the minor fright.

We also stopped for a picnic lunch along the trail. Those benches make great mounting blocks, btw.

Ranger enjoying a nap while I ate my lunch.

Back on the trail again.

There were nice maps on the trail to make sure you weren't lost.

We rode the entire red trail and the purple trail, and a section of the yellow trail. Basically two loops.

We stopped and let the horses have a drink from the Tolomato River.

We saw lots of species of birds, including these water birds. I think they might be egrets?

We also passed other horseback riders on the trail.

We even got to ride through lots of puddles that covered the trail. Thankfully none of them had alligators lurking in them!

No alligators!

The trails were so nice and smooth and sandy that we even did a bit of trotting and cantering. As we ran towards one particular bend in the trail, there was a bench and Ranger spooked at it, causing me to almost lose my seat, but mostly making me laugh. Scared of a bench, Ranger, really?

There were a lot of people on the trails, too, which is something I'm not that used to in New Mexico. But the trails were beautifully groomed with very easy walking paths, unlike our rugged, rocky and steep mountain trails at home.

There was even boardwalks for the people to stroll. I really wanted to ride Ranger up there, but alas, no horses were allowed.

What a great place to ride and what a fun pair of women to ride with.

Soon it was time to leave so we could drive over to the beach to ride. Riding back towards the busy dock area and parking area.

Mother and son side by side.

It was so wonderful to be riding with and on such a well trained, seasoned trail horse. None of the sights, sounds and crowds caused any concerns to our horses. There were even some kids flying kites on our left.

What a great day so far!! Now we are going to load the ponies and drive a short distance over to the beach to enjoy an evening ride beside the Atlantic Ocean!!

Stay Tuned!