Fort Robinson, Nebraska

This weekend I went with Highboy, Miles the border collie, some friends, and their horses to Fort Robinson in Nebraska.  It's an old cavalry base from the wild west days of "cowboys and indians" with thousands of acres of trails to ride, hike, or bike.  I first heard about this place when I was still in college from friends who owned the barn where I was boarding.  They raved about it and since hearing of it from them I've wanted to go.  It's only now, approximately 16 years later that I finally made it there.

We had the option to keep the horses in one of the old cavalry barns, but we decided to switch over to one of the mare barns because the horses had a better view and a little more air.  It was much more humid in Nebraska than in Colorado!

The horses all settled into their stalls easily, Highboy was the most comfortable since as an OTTB he is very accustomed to stalls and in fact he thinks they are somewhat of a status symbol.  At home if a horse is stalled it's because he is injured or sick, and so he gets all kinds of special food, attention, and love.  This means all the horses at my place covet being stalled and want to get in the barn at every opportunity.

The other two horses were greys, one was Shambhu the Connemara/TB gelding owned by Carol, and the other was Sugar, an Arabian cross owned by our new friend Lorraine.  Miles is always up for a good car ride, so he happily tagged along on the trip.

 After the horses were settled we headed over to our cabin that we had rented for the weekend.

Miles made himself right at home there, too.  He made a sincere effort to sneak snacks at every opportunity, but otherwise behaved himself nicely.

After we ate dinner we all headed out for a quick ride.  We did a shorter loop in the field just outside the mare barn near the buttes, so that Miles could come.

The cabin we stayed in was huge, because we had initially anticipated a larger group going but for various reasons folks had to cancel at the last minute.  It had a kitchen with a bizarre little thermostat that looked leftover from the early 1900s, but also had a microwave, fridge, stove, and dishes.  The beds were pretty comfortable, and of course Miles enjoyed sleeping with me in one of the rooms with a queen bed.

Saturday dawned and we were excited to hit the trail.  The three of us headed past a pasture with cattle (Highboy's first experience with bovines) and aimed for a gulley with a friendly river running through it.  Highboy was a little full of himself as we started out, but quickly settled.  He even opened and closed most of the gates for us because he was so good with a job and purpose.  His performance was so praiseworthy that we said a few times, "Is he Highboy or Cowboy?"  Then when we came across a cool bunch of bones we also asked, "Is he a Track horse or a Pack Horse?"

My main goal and hope for the weekend was to get Highboy into water and bravely crossing first.  I haven't had a chance to school water with him for eventing and jumping cross country, and a trail ride is the way I like to introduce it to a horse for the first time.  He was very brave as soon as he saw his long-time buddy Shambhu do it.  After that he was happy to go in, splash around, and was even cantering into the streams by the end of the day!  Some video evidence of him enjoying the water can be seen here:

https://www.facebook.com/kim.leonard.100/posts/10209408828275117

Towards the end of this ride I took some video of the view from Highboy's saddle, which can be seen here:

https://www.facebook.com/kim.leonard.100/posts/10209405491991712

We got very lucky with the weather.  Despite thunderstorms and rain overnight, the days were perfect for riding. Not too hot or cold, and almost no bugs.  Saturday's ride we headed over to the buttes to try one of those trails.  Because it was turkey hunting season and we had met several hunters out that weekend I chose to ride in my brights, which I own not only for hunting purposes but because I love bright colors.  I startled my human riding companions when I emerged from my room in this ensemble, but Highboy is accustomed to my wardrobe and was nonplussed.

Fort Robinson is just beginning to mark the trails and we marched ourselves into the buttes with high hopes for the day.  The trail got technical fast.  There were very steep inclines for us to walk up and down, and dramatic drop-offs on the side.  The changes in depth of field create problems for me with vertigo from a brain injury I experienced years ago, but Highboy was very steady and sure footed.  He even led most of the way.  I wouldn't go on that particular trail again, but I sure am proud of my young Thoroughbred for taking care of me on that trail even when the going was incredibly steep and he was getting sore from all the butt muscle workout.

On our way back we found more bones, and the anatomy geek in me really wanted the whole bovine pelvis we saw.  Fortunately my companions were really good sports, and Carol dismounted to pick it up and then Lorraine slung it over her shoulder and carried it all the way back for me.  Highboy was disturbed about why I wanted to tie a piece of dead animal to his saddle bags.  Unfortunately explaining that a leather saddle is really just a dead animal strapped to his back didn't help my case.  Carol took this photo of me when we got back to the barns.  Not too dignified, but entertaining all the same.

Later in the day after the horses and we humans had some lunch we turned out the geldings together in the arena near our barn for a few minutes.  I was happy to see that Highboy wasn't too sore to run around and play with his old friend, and I got some fun photos of their romping around.

The whole trip was a blast, and I went home with only two questions in mind:  When can I come back for a whole week with Owen so he can run the trails while I ride?  The second, prompted by the sign at the gas station with a car on the roof and a little diner inside:  What on earth is a cabbage burger?