Indiana weather has a mind of it's own. In the winter it is freaking cold and snowy. We are just about an hour east of Lake Mighigan and about an hour and 45 minutes from the Ohio line. I live about fifteen minutes from the Michigan line. Easier said-I live 10 minutes from Notre Dame. In the summer it's hot and humid. Winter starts in Oct and ends in April or May. I hate winter. And my birthday is in the winter...
So, it was nice out and I thought instead of riding in the arena we would head out for a decent hack. Olly loves to go out on hacks, and this was the best day to do it. We started out going our normal way. We trotted down the field where our xc logs are and turned down the first side road. All down this road there are farms with horses. Olly neighs at every farm to see if anyone will answer. None of them usually do, they are just content to be fat and eating their grass. There is, however, one paint that always comes to the fence. He never causes a problem, I think he is just curious.
Curious Paint and Fat Arab
"Let me know if the TB is interesting, I may get up"
Normally, when we get to the end of the road we turn right (this takes us to the camels). Today, we turned left. As much as I dislike being back in Indiana, I have to admit that it is pretty out here in the country. Flat, but pretty. As we were walking I made mental notes of all the cool places to work on endurance. Whenever we found a lane or something we wanted to explore, we went. I kept an eye out for No Trespassing signs. We would retrace back and continue on down the road. My plan was to go around the block. Next side road turn and that should take us back in the direction of the barn. Well, little did I know we would be on the longest hack in Indiana to date.
Indiana goes on for days. You can see for miles.
We kept on doing our trotting sets and cantering sets. No crossroads in sight. Just enjoying the day. I heard and saw a ton of geese, in the fields and in the sky getting ready to set into the fields. Along the side of the road there were hundreds of deer tracks, and a few were of some massive bucks. One of the wooded areas we walked past was full of pines. Turkeys had to be in there. We crossed to the other side of the road and sure enough I heard them. None within sight, but they were loud, just hens clucking no gobbles. That's the next season up, April, I think.
In the near distance I see, what appears to b a crossroad. I was somewhat thankful only because I was freezing and we had gone about 3 miles. The closer we got to the "crossroad" the more it wasn't. It was a drive way. How do I know?
Well, I know because there is no road sign and it clearly has the "Indiana Driveway" identification, a hubcap.
So since this was not our exit, we continued on. I did happen to see a promising stretch to canter. And it had a sign-I'm sure the sign said "Made for cantering sets for Pru and Olly." Once we got closer it said "Wetland Preserve." I was close.
I am not sure if you can see the little tank (pond) in the back ground.
We did breeze the little strip of grassy land just inside the Wetland Preserve. I could tell Olly was feeling the long hack and we hadn't even found our "crossroad" yet. As we slowed, I saw a road sign, just after a bridge. Finally!! An intersecting road that would turn us in the direction of home.
Oh, no...it wasn't a road. It was a sign saying we were crossing into the NEXT COUNTY!!
The Kankakee River
I tried but didn't see ANY roads, other than the one we were on. And by this point it was no longer New Rd it was 300S. I could see cars driving a few fields over and it actually crossed my mind to hoof it cross country to "said" road. The corn fields were acres and acres and the wind was blowing. I was starting to wonder why I made the decision to leave my Carhart in the car. I was fine until the sun ducked behind a cloud, then I really started to contemplate turning around.
The dirt here is so rich, hence all the corn and bean fields.
This picture (above) was the turning point. We had been out for two hours. I knew that it would be a quicker ride home because we weren't exploring as much, plus Olly had turned on his BRH GPS and was double timing it.
Here is a short clip of the BRH's GPS in action. I do not have a helmet cam, this was on my phone.
Once we were headed back it was a bit quicker pace. You can see the first clip of the video he's really working his walk. After a few minutes, I started scanning the surroundings. Even though I am not a fan of being in Indiana, I am thankful for the beautiful day and everything in my life. I did notice that my immediate "family," the ones I love (outside of mom and such) are all male. The irony...Back to the hack.
While scanning, I notice the tower we passed on the way out, it's about a mile or so from the barn.
See the antenna? It's the tiny little red stick FARRRRRRR in the background.
Yeah, that's how far we had to go to ALMOST get home. We kept going at the pace Olly was tracking. I just let the sun warm me as much as I could and every few hundred yards I tucked my hands under his saddle pad near his withers.
I promised Olly one last breeze in the xc log field before we made it to the barn. As we were approaching the field Olly's attention was diverted.
Mom!! They are taking our xc logs!!!!
The trucks and bulldozer were hard at work removing the last of our make-shift xc course.
We made our last SLOW canter set down this field and walked the rest of the way home. Olly was beat, but happy and so was I. Total time? A little over three hours. Normally I would have no issue riding for this long, but it was too chilly for just a few shirts and a hoodie.
