The hill that kicked Mag's butt

2nd new trail for me in one week! Although parallel to each other and ending in nearly the same spot, this one was awesome.

On the way there, leading Mag down Hohestrasse, I realized 9:50 AM is not a great time to be out, because half the neighborhood was late to church and racing by us, and the other half was on a motorcycle or bike racing by us. And then Mag lost his s***.

Over a pony! Katherina was leading a pony down Hohestrasse, ahead of us, with her child on its back. Mag lost it completely, I have no idea why. I've rarely seen him so upset, and suddenly his conformational flaws disappeared. His back came up, his head as high as possible, tail straight up, legs braced and every vein possible was showing, just from his state of mind! His butt even got bigger as his croup leveled out.

I wasn't pissed, but I was pretty annoyed that he carried on like that for so long. I let him stand there watching the pony and he couldn't breathe. Shoulda had my camera.

Finally the pony turned for home and a herd of horses that live there came over to greet us, and Mag seemed pretty worked up about that too. With motorcycles blasting by (Sunday is motorcycle day here) I was not thrilled.

I met S1 and her chestnut Arabian at the Bayer loop and chose to delay mounting til the next bench. When I did, Mag was fine. In fact her horse was spooking at sun-lit logs/branches and every so often balking, and Mag could pass him by and lead for a while. Her horse also did a little double-barrel kick threat but thankfully didn't connect.

I like riding with S1 cuz she is a great conversationalist and we can talk the entire time. She really hates those people I went to a BBQ with yesterday at her barn (barn drama post coming up). And she really hates Muslims, she told me flat out. All Muslims.

Anyway S1 took me up a new trail, one that Mag has always tried to take without me asking, so Mag thought it was pretty cool. Until he realized how steep it was.

It was by far the steepest longest climb he's ever done (not long in comparison to back home, of course). Halfway up he started sort of jigging, trying to find a way to get up the hill with less effort. That didn't work, so he started snorting and doing that huffing/snorting breathing that horses do when they're swimming. He wasn't paying attention so he kept slipping into little gullies (it's a somewhat washed out, abandoned logging road). I'm sure falling into little cracks wasn't making it easier for him to get up.

One of the nice things about this trail is it's not marked, and not maintained, so likely no one uses it. S1 kept saying, "No mountain biker would run into us here!" (Not guaranteed, but less likely anyway.) On the other hand, it might not be long before the blackberries completely take over the trail. 

I was thrilled at the scenery - S1 explained to me that the area used to be pines, but they got wiped out by a storm and now a variety of deciduous trees fill the area, with tiny little hemlocks (!) here and there. Blackberries throughout, of course. Mag was able to grab one and carry it along in his mouth.

Finally we reached the top "of the mountain" (not really) and I knew exactly where we were. Huh.

I'll be back here! This may turn into my favorite trail. Sadly it's not that close to home.





We continued on nearly my side of town and rather than fight my way back Hohestrasse traffic, I asked if it would be OK if we split up in the woods cuz I was nearly home. Thankfully S1 is fine with that, so I thanked her and her horse, and turned for home.

Mag was gimpy because I could not put the Easyboots on today because they rubbed his heel bulbs last time I rode (probably cuz his legs were wet when I put them on, but that shouldn't matter, in my opinion). Ugh, hoof boots....

Poor Mag, I let him go as slow as he wanted and gave him multiple treats for being so slow and careful. Then I realized I was riding all by myself for quite a ways. I was worried about mountain bikers suddenly appearing but said a prayer and it never happened. When we turned up my favorite switchback, almost home, I really was able to enjoy myself.

At the top, I tied him to his tree and sat on a bench and just enjoyed the sounds of the woods and the solitude for about 20 minutes.

And for the first time ever, he didn't even take a single step as he stood tied. That hill must have kicked his butt.  He cocked a hind leg eventually and I think he even dozed.

A forest ranger drove by in his jeep and Mag looked at it, looked at me, and said, "Car, in the woods! Are you getting this?"

It was a perfect moment of peace and relaxation and now I'm planning new loops I can ride, incorporating those logging roads into them. 





UPDATE:

You know what - finding that trail changed my outlook on riding today. I'm actually excited to go find new loops. The reason I hadn't lately is because I'm always with someone and don't want to get us "lost" (no way to get lost here).

But I looked at that OpenTrails map today and had a new idea.

Screw Hohestrasse. I'm done with that crap for a while. It's 100KPH, and too many cars surpass even that. And the freaking UPS trucks....

So here's my plan. I go straight down into the woods from our house, and then show Mag a rough switchback he's never been on (and I've been avoiding cuz I'm not sure Mag won't kip us over, it's so technical). That switchback, I'll call it the Nadine trail cuz she showed it to me in 2012 (?), leads to the top of the hill and then I catch a paved road for a while which will take me to where S1's trail ended today, and then I'll take Mag down her trail, which even if I'm on foot will be really good for Mag's sense of balance to get down it without tumbling.

Then we are on the Bayer loop! All we do is turn left along the water and I'll make the pond our new meeting place.

S1 said she only needed 20 minutes today to *lead* her horse to the meeting spot for the Bayer loop (at the Bayer convention center). I needed 40 minutes walking as fast as I could on Hohestrasse. I'm done with that.

Also, Ani often meets me there, from the same barn as S1, so this has not really been fair. They ride side roads and I'm on a superhighway twice as long?

And now TP wants to meet there as well! Well, all three of them can ride 10 more minutes alone, and meet me at the pond.

I'm totally excited about this, almost to the point I wanna go do the loop right now (which for me would be an out and back, but who cares - no traffic). And, I just realized, there's no reason we cannot do the Bayer loop in addition to the new trail.

But it's suddenly hot out again, and will be unbearably hot this week, I'm told. So, next weekend.

I'm gonna print out that map and put it in my saddle bag.

The explorer in me has awakened and is feeling rowdy! (Although S1 told me she will not be going through holes in fences to get to the watershed, never. *lol*)

***

For reference, since you now have a picture, "the pond" is at the top center of my map. K16 is Hohestrasse, the fast street. In fact directly where it says K16 is TP's house.  Top left of the map is Irlenstrasse, where I meet Ani and S1. As the purple line hangs a right there, that's the Bayer convention center, so the start of the Bayer loop. The Bayer loop is partially visible, it follows the water down and then cuts up and leaves this map. Lower left you see Roelscheid, that's where Seli keeps Momo. Lower right where it says Staudamm, that's the dam were we have our picnics. My house is off the map lower left.