What a terrific week! We arrived last Sunday at the French Broad Outpost for a week of fun!!
Sunday: Checked in and met the other guests. Meals were served family style with the guests and staff so we got to meet everyone. After dinner, we had orientation where the owner gave us the basics. It was very informative and he explained several things that I had never been previously told. I liked the way he explained things- he didn't just tell you what to do, but why to do it. They only used Arabians and neither Brett or I had ever ridden an Arabian.
Monday: After breakfast, we met our horses and did some hands on training, then took a trail ride. We were assigned a horse for the week and for each ride, you were responsible for getting your own horse from the pasture and saddling up. They did not do any of that for you and it definitely helped you to learn. After lunch, we took another trail ride. Came back for dinner and then played some pioneer games. My first injury wasn't even from a horse - it was a 3 legged race gone bad and we took a nose dive!
Tuesday: Breakfast, cattle drive, lunch, whitewater rafting, dinner, team penning. My booty was a bit sore today:-(
Wednesday: Yeah! I woke up and nothing hurt today! A few of the guests left and a few more arrived. There was one other family that stayed for the entire week. Breakfast, trail ride, then after lunch we skipped out on the float trip because the weather was gloomy, so instead we spent the afternoon reading and playing games with our new friends.
Thursday: Breakfast, cattle drive, lunch. After lunch, I chose to take progressive riding lessons. There were 5 of us taking the lessons and 3 of us moved on from trotting to cantering. Afterward the other 2 were bruised and in pain. I was feeling pretty good that I wasn't hurting. Ended the day with dinner and games.
Friday: That feeling of excited about not being in pain after the riding lesson yesterday was definitely missing the moment I woke up:-( Good thing I brought some ThermaCare heat pads, there were muscles in my back and neck that I didn't know existed! Breakfast, Cattle drive, Lunch. After lunch, Brett went on a ride and I went with Kim to check out the small town of Hot Springs, NC, then back for dinner and a night of square dancing.
Saturday: After breakfast, we skipped the advanced whitewater trip so that we could go into town and meet up with Jen Brown, a friend of mine from High School. It was the first time we had seen each other in 21 years and she brought her son who just graduated High School. Time sure flies! We cut our visit short so that we could get back to the ranch for our last ride of the week, but on our way back, the weather got crazy and any riding for the day was cancelled. With that done, we spent the rest of the night enjoying the company of our new friends and listening to some live Bluegrass music.
Sunday: Breakfast, said good-bye to all our new friends and headed home!
The guests, wranglers, owners and staff were all superb and this week ranked as one of our best vacations. I also need to add that they went way out of their way to accommodate our gluten free needs. We ate just like everyone else, but they fixed several things separately and made them gluten free. They said they learned a lot and as much as they learned...we ate! We had spaghetti, chocolate chip cookies, peach cobbler, grilled cheese, spinach tortellini soup, brownies, buttermilk pie, waffles, etc. You name it, they rocked it!!!!
Beautiful view of the ranch from just outside our room.
Brett's horse for the week...Munchkin!!
My horse for the week, Tonamae.
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