Borrowing Usidore

 July 19th
Kittatinny Valley
7.85 miles
2h31m

I rode Max a handful of times in the first ten days I owned him, but I mostly just let him settle into his new routine. His feet and body had a lot of adjusting to do and my riding plans were on the back burner until I got shoes on him.

In the meantime, I was going on three weeks without trail riding. I was starting to go a bit stir crazy. After the initial shock of everything wore off, I found myself missing the activities almost as much as the horses themselves.

Thankfully, Hannah quickly offered to let me borrow her ponies while we got Max going. When she invited me to ride Usidore and suggested Kittatinny, I jumped at the opportunity.

I have not ridden Usidore before, even though I've known him for close to two years. I know he is a good egg and he has done some pretty impressive trail riding in the time Hannah has had him. After Sandy rode him in Washington state, she came home gushing about what a good boy he is. She said, "If you ever get a chance to ride him, do it!"

As for Kittatinny: I've only been there once. I rode Bobby there as my pre-ride for South Carolina in 2019. 

I remember it being a nice park, but it was a little outside my regular driving radius when I kept the horses down here. It's only about an hour from Hannah's though, and I was eager to go somewhere new to me. After seven years, my memory of the trails was basically a blank slate.

Neither Hannah nor I are morning people so we met comfortably in the afternoon. We loaded Usidore and Merlin along with my saddle into Hannah's rig and headed north.

Since I wasn't driving or navigating, I didn't notice right away that we'd strayed off the route I would have expected us to take. I feel like Google Maps has been taking some creative license lately, and it's not always a good thing.

As we pulled through a housing development, the GPS told us, "In 500 feet, you will approach your destination. Prepare to park and walk in." What?

It turns out the GPS was taking us to some completely random place nowhere near the park. I'm not sure where it was walking us into, but it would have required a machete to get through the underbrush. 

The conversation had been so good we didn't realize we were off track until this moment. We looked at the map and it turned out we had overshot the park by about half an hour. We plugged my phone into the truck instead and got back on track. (Thankfully this was not a dead end detour that involved a twelve point k-turn like that time at Trexler... ahem.) 

Last time I rode at Kittatinny, we parked in the main lot. This time, Hannah showed me a smaller grass lot that is specifically designated for horse trailers. In fact, there was another pair of riders there who were finishing up their ride when we arrived. 

Usidore napped while we tacked up. My dressage saddle fit him surprisingly well which was convenient.

Soon we were mounted and on our way down the Sussex Branch Trail. Usidore had a lovely, huge walk stride. When we picked up our intermediate gait, I was blown away by how smooth he was! He racked along with almost no support or guidance from me. I can see why people fall for these guys. I burned almost no calories on our ride haha.

A new pony for me!

I've never ridden a max white horse before. This was a fun set of ears to see the trail through.

Usidore was an absolutely perfect gentleman for our entire ride. It has been a very long time since I did a trail ride on a new-to-me horse and he put me completely at ease. He was fun, willing, safe, and so comfy!

Hannah and I rode all the way to the south end of the park on the rail trail, then ducked left into the woods. The single track through here was really beautiful as it wound up and down the hills. I didn't get to do this trail last time since Jeff and I rode through the airport. Hannah prefers to avoid that section especially on the weekends.

A glimpse of the airport as we cut through the corner.

We eventually made our way to Lake Aeroflex and followed the shoreline northeast past the park proper. Along the way, there were a few good spots to dip into the water. The horses got to spend some time relaxing in the shallows while Hannah and I chatted.

An old furnace.

This was a cool trail!

We discovered pickerel weed, which is apparently edible!

At the far end of the lake, we squiggled back through the woods, picking up the pace where possible. Usidore was extremely sure footed and confident over the terrain and I grinned as he picked his way nimbly over the rocky stretches and switchbacks. 

Eventually we crossed back over the Sussex Branch. There was a bit of a climb up to the fire tower, which we circumvented.

The back side of Twin Lakes.

A scarlet winged lichen moth was a new addition to my bug list.

So lush and green!

Then the woods opened up into wider grassy lanes and some fields. Usidore has a very easy canter button and I let him out a few times. His canter was extremely smooth as well and I giggled like a child as he carried me over the trail. 

We even passed through a beautiful meadow full of wildflowers.

Matching riders and matching ponies.

After circling a lovely field near the campsites, we rejoined the SBT for the final stretch home. Hannah offered to show me some more miles, but it had been a perfect ride and it was getting late. We still had a decent drive back to the barn. 

We passed the trailers a short while later and crossed the street to let the horses dip their toes in Twin Lakes. They drank and cooled their feet while an adorable little girl petted them and chattered excitedly with us. 

There was something refreshing about her wide-eyed wonder. The last few months had left me feeling pretty jaded about people in general and the horse world in particular. Somewhere along the way, horses became tangled up with all the ugly things humans are capable of.

Then here was this little girl, utterly enchanted by two white horses standing in a lake.

For a few minutes, it was nice to see them through her eyes. There were just horses, and horses were magical.

I remember when it was that simple.

Her dad eventually said, "Honey, you have to let the nice ladies go..." but neither of us was in a hurry. I remember all too well being the young girl who was totally enchanted by horses. I definitely felt the corners of my mouth twitching when she gushed about the boys looking like a pair of unicorns. 

We used my phone to navigate home and there were no further adventures involving navigation. The conversation was good on the drive back as well and the time passed quickly. Before I knew it, the day had flown by. I felt relaxed and happy for the first time in several weeks and I thanked Hannah profusely for sharing her lovely horse with me. 

I have my own sweet gelding to pass the time these days, but I would borrow Usidore again in a heartbeat! 

Once again, I found myself feeling so very grateful for my incredible, generous, supportive friends. I would be so lost without them!