"Withlacoochee Trail Ride"
McCulley Farms
Jasper, FL

7a - Up, dressed, loaded car, too the barn
Unloaded car into truck & trailer
2 Horses loaded up on trailer, 3 people loaded into the truck, 4.5 horses later, pulling into McCulley Farms at Jasper, FL
Rained stopped somewhere during the drive up
Get to the place, set up camp, get the horses fed, then try to relax (despite being wet & cold)
Went to bed kinda early, then froze all night

Up at sunrise, still cold out
Cooked bacon, eggs, & sausage on my little Coleman camp stove (was awesome on a cold morning)
Then Cheryl & I decided to go for a ride to try & warm us & the horses up
- Old cabins from the 1800's (restored)
- Huge, open fields
- Trees everywhere
- Both horses behaved very well
- Took both for a hand-gallop (fastest I've ever gone on a horse)
Back to the campsite for lunch (1st of 7 meals provided - hog dogs, cole slaw, potatoe salad, sandwiches, sweet tea)
- I was a "rodeo champ"...
- All these new horses, so many, didn't know what to do...
- He was bucking & kicking & throwing all sorts of fits... doing his damnedest to get me off so he can go visit & play... None of it worked :oD
- Between them, Cheryl, & I we had Hernando, Pasco, & Pinellas counties covered
- Most of them had been to competition before, so we "drilled" them for pointers & then did some practice team/formation riding with them
There were 2 people guiding us... 1 was a lady, riding her palamino bare back, the 2nd was a man, riding his mule!
Was too funny, most of the horses didn't know what to think of the mule
They took around out into those open fields & through the woods, then up by the river... we were out for about 2.5hrs
Then back to camp for dinner (Chicken, green beans, potato salad, cake)
When back to camp site, got a fire going, then went to bed early

Up again at sunrise, was freezing out, literally... there was ice on everything
Went for breakfast (Grits, sausage, eggs, toast, coffee, juice)
Planned trail ride at 9:30a
Rooster was a little better behaved (only a little though)
There was just under 50 on this ride
We went back to the river, then further... everything out here is just beautiful
- Sandwichs, cookies, soda, water
- Billy caught a ride with the lunch crew & met me out there (he will def need to have a horse or bike or something so he can join us next time)
- We were here for an hour then went on our way again
- Then we went another 2hrs before we made it back to camp
- By this time (about 2:30p) it was warm out... such a change from a 34-deg morning... we had shorts on now
- Took a relaxing nap in the tent... horses pigged out on hay
Woke up in time for dinner (5:30p)
BBQ Pork, baked beans, cole slaw, cake, sweet tea
Then they had a band playing
Was a little too loud, so we went back to our camp site, started the fire again, drank some beer, & went to bed

Up again at sunrise, not as cold this time, but it was real foggy out... cleared up quick though when the sun came out
Had breakfast (Pancakes, sausage, coffee, juice)
There was another planned ride at 9:30a, but Cheryl & I decided to go out on our own b/c both horses were far better behaved that way
So, Billy walked with us, with Cheryl's dog (Katy-Marie) also. He took pictures & stuff.
- Showed Billy the cottage, the family cemetary, out to the river, then we went to the big open field
- Ran the horses again for a 2nd, 3rd, & 4th time for me... :oD
- The 3rd time, Rooster out ran Cheryl's horse... he really is fast
- The 4th time, we had slowed down to a canter, then almost to a trot, when I thought he was gonna go 1 way but he decided to go another... off I went :o\
- Atleast I got up laughing... I was having a blast
We went back to the campsite after about 2hrs of that (poor Billy was getting sore & tired)
Packed our stuff to go
Went to lunch (beany-weanies, sandwiches, BBQ chicken, cole slaw, potatoe salad, sweet tea)
The loaded up the horses & were on our way home