# Trail Camping/Riding weekend



## AQHSam (Nov 23, 2011)

Last Friday, I "borrowed" the husband's truck and hooked up our 26' travel trailer and joined a girlfriend at a Horse/RV campsite for a long weekend of trail riding at Ponderosa Trail Riding in Pineville, MO.

*what a blast we had!*

My barn owner brought my horse down on Friday morning and my girlfriend took him back to the barn in her horse trailer with living space.

Ponderosa has electric and water hookups at every site and wonderfully clean and modern (including temperature regulated) bath houses. (Haven't been in the men's but the women's is very nice). You can choose from a stall or electric tape paddock area for your horse. There is good quality hay bales for sale if you don't want to drag your own hay. There is plenty of hoses for watering and rinsing horses off and Debbie (the owner) has lots of stall cleaning tools and wheelbarrows also. There is also a clean creek for both horse and human water games.

The owner is a very laid back down to earth woman and goes out of her way to make sure you are comfortable, whether it is a day trip or you are a weekend guest.

This is not an ad for Ponderosa, but I had to talk about the amenities. It was better than some state and private campgrounds I have been to.

Even though it was over 95 deg F each of the days, we managed to get over 2 - 2 hr rides in on both Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, we took the horses to the creek bareback and played in the water before heading home.

Sam threw a back shoe before he arrived on Friday. I rode him for the 2 rides on Friday, however, I noticed on Saturday he was favoring his hoof. I borrowed/leased a temporary shoe boot from Debbie and had a great ride on Saturday night. 

He made me sooooo proud. We were 2nd on the trail and the trail leader started walking through a clump of trees and decided there was too much viney undergrowth. He stopped and turned to the right and then a sharp left to avoid the straight path.

Sam, who had been dinking around with his bit kept plodding along and when I tried to turn him sharply to the right he fought me slightly because by now the lead horse was directly ahead of us having gone around.

Well, Sam chose to go forward, right into the thorny bramble vines. When he came to the conclusion he couldn't go any further, he halted but by then the damage was done.

I had thorns poking into my calves, thighs, and scraping my arms. He had them tangled along his legs and across his chest. YIKES :shock: I tried to get him to back up, but as he did the thorns dug further into me.

I called for a knife (which created chuckles, everyone thought I wanted to stab the horse) and the lead horse came back around and cut us out of the thorns. Sam stood there the whole time. When I was certain we were clear, I motioned for him to go forward and he high stepped his bum right out of there.

One of the other riders in the party said her horse would have blown up if that had been her. I was very proud of him. I have a few cuts from the thorns through my jeans. (another reason not to ride in shorts I guess.)

Well, this is long. Ponderosa has a great mix of challenging horse trails, easy trails, and even some mule trails. I have been there several times, but this was the first camping outing and I am still on Cloud 9 from the trip. It was just what the doctor ordered for my mental health weekend.


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## usandpets (Jan 1, 2011)

Good to hear you had a great time. We've been wanting to go camping this year. Usually we go once a month but this year has been too hectic. 

We will for sure be going on a trip in August. I can't wait. It's nothing fancy but it will be great to get away. Every year we go to a fundraiser ride to raise money to fight cancer. It's held in McLeod, ND. Cowboy Up Ride Against Cancer
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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

photos? would be nice. Sounds like an amazing place.


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## seeing spots (Dec 14, 2011)

I've thought about making a trip down to pineville some time. Heard there is some nice scenery down there. Some pictures would be nice to see.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

I second the request for photos please!!


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## AQHSam (Nov 23, 2011)

Hahaha. I Didn't take a single photo. I brought my camera on a ride but enjoyed myself and forgot to pull it out!
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