Horse Camping

We went camping with the horses in Myles Standish State Forest last weekend. It was one of the most fun things we have done! The park has 15,000 acres of riding, hiking, biking, paddling and camping. We stayed in an equestrian only camping loop complete with bathrooms, showers, water, big sites to accommodate trailers and horses with picnic table and fire pit. We were joined by some of our "horsekids" friends...they ranged in age from about 1 year to 8 years old. They did great and had a ball.

The weather was perfect all weekend.

The equestrian camp has a host family that is there every weekend. They were walking around constantly, offering help and advice. They also took us on a 2 hour ride to show us the park Sunday morning. This is the first time Murph and I have been able to ride together since before I was pregnant!

The horses seemed to have just as much fun as we did.

They stayed on a high line for the first time. I attached two prussic knots to each highline. That enabled us to adjust the position of each horse and then it was anchored into place.

They had enough room to move around and eat off the ground. They never got tangled or hung up in any way. We positioned the high line about 8 feet off the ground.

The kids and horses enjoyed each others company.

Everyone got plenty of riding in.

The horses learned to settle into the camping life with a little help. We walked 2 of them around the camp sites while 2 remained in their highline. There was lots of whinnying at first but they settled down after about an hour of it.

We cooked over the campfire.

I mad these saddle racks the day before we left. It worked great to keep the saddles off the ground.

Little whinnied throughout the night. He was raised in Montana...mountain lion country...so being worried about what was in the woods in the dark is understandable.

Satinka didn't like being separated from her pony Tonto. We left Tonto behind on Sunday for the kids. Satinka eventually got into her groove and we had a great ride.

This is my favorite picture from the weekend. The three of them are perfectly in step....just like the weekend.

Our little cowgirl.

Can you believe camping here only costs $12 per night!! And only 20 minutes from home.

Tink and Tonto relaxed in their spot right away...and slept through the night like babies.