Wildflower after a roll

the gelding field

cozy camp site and huge corral area

painting in the trailer view

Liza on Dreamy

top of an old ski slope

Sue, our local guide

Sue and Liza on Dream and Dreamy

Stepping stone falls

8/2/14 Stepping Stones Ranch, West Greenwich, RI, Arcadia Forest, State #30
We only stayed here 3 nights to accommodate the extra miles needed to switch our next stop to Acadia, Maine. We leave today for an overnight in Brunswick, ME. It’s 7am and drizzling. It will be a 6 hour haul I think.

We got here a few days ago. We passed the LeGrande Horseman’s camp on the way in. I decided to forgo that place, its primitive. This is just down the street and accesses the same trails. Heidi was on a horse when we pulled in and told us to park next to the barn. Not a great spot but at least we had electric and water to use there. I turned the mares out in her sand arena and they had a good roll. The barn is huge. Over 25 stalls lined up on each long side, hay storage on the floor above them where bales can be dropped down right in front of the stall doors. The center area is like a long dirt arena. Heidi told us it was built by the Navy.

When she returned from her ride, Heidi walked us around showing us our possible camp site spots. So we weren’t staying next to the barn after all. All our options had power, but I was going to have to run a very long string of extention cords. None had water very close by either. I filled up our house and horse water tanks and planned on hauling water for the horses after a day or two. Getting out of the spot I was in and turned around to get to our site was challenging to say the least, but I did it! Now I have to get out again. Moving in and out of sites is one of my most anxious moments on this trip. I have some low branches to get thru, 3 gates with some tight turns and up a grass hill that is now wet from the rain. I’ll load the horses after I am thru all this, that makes the trailer lighter and me less anxious.

Our first day here was perfect weather. We got in around noon and spent the rest of the day setting up camp. I have a huge grass area for the horses by campground standards. I used 14 poles and about 150’ of electric tape. Even tho they have all this area they spend most of their time up near the trailer under two large shade trees where their water and hay are. I bought some hay from Heidi. Its very nice hay, timothy grass mix from NY state. They really love it.

Our 2nd day here we went out for a short 1-1/2 hour ride alone. Its pretty but the trails we chose were not the best. A lot of rocks and a gravel road. I hate gravel roads and so do my horses. I had boots on their front feet but they still wanted to skirt the sides. I had a map from Heidi but it only showed the main arteries of the trail system. We did an out and back on one of the minor trails and it was pretty until it got to be too rocky. We passed a very old graveyard in the woods.

Our ride the next day was with a local, Sue Sikes on her horse Dream. She took us on a beautiful ride for about 2 hours. Much nicer footing, a great view from an old ski resort hill top and the stepping stones falls. There is no way I could of found our way for what she took us on. Even with gps I am worried about getting lost again. I really like it when a local offers to come with me and told her so.

Dreamy has been a very good girl for Liza. She is such a gem. I really don’t have to worry about her doing anything to hurt my sister. Not many horses are that level headed and kind. Liza is heavier than me but I don’t think it matters to Dreamy much, she is so big boned and strong. I have noticed that she is standing a bit camped out at times the last month or so, which kind of concerns me. But she is usually square and has not been stumbling. There is a clicking noise when she walks, but I have heard that for some time now. Her feet look great. I gave her an Adequan shot yesterday. As you can tell, I think about her welfare all the time, she means the world to me. I miss getting to ride her, she is so much fun and such smooth gaits. I’ll take her for a spin alone up in Acadia.

I haven’t been feeling great the last few days. I took a pain pill, my last one left from my kidney stone issues. It lifted my back pain so dramatically and I was stunned at how much better I felt about everything. I guess I need to do something about it all. Alleve is not working for me any more. I wish I had gotten cortisone shots while I was in NJ but I was so overwhelmed with my mom dying I forgot about it. Its going to be impossible to get more pain pills while I am on the road I suppose.

While I was in RI I did the NJ and CT paintings. The NJ one is from our trail ride along a water trail (my first, kind of cool too) and the CT one is from the mares in their corral. Since CT was not my best experience by far, it was hard to be kind to the painting. I am not very happy with the NJ one, too much dabbing, it looks like pointalism almost. But these are all just basically studies for me to work from later. I intend to do them all 4’x4’ when I am settled back down again.

An old boyfriend came by to visit me here. He lives in CT nearby. We lived together in my loft in NYC back in the roaring 80’s when everyone was doing coke in the clubs. It was a pretty awful relationship that ended quite badly, except that I got clean and moved on. He told me that he tells a story about me saving his life in AA groups often, hoping to inspire others. It was a nightmare night to remember. It was my turning point. It was kind of awkward for me to talk with him and see him again. But I think he wanted to thank me in person so I had agreed to the meeting. We stood in front of the barn for about 1/2 hour, gave a quick hug and then he got in his car and left.

Well its time to get serious about pulling out so gotta go now.