Nockamixon with Terra

 September 12, 2026
Lake Nockamixon, PA
9.96 miles
3h8m

I gave Max the week off after our camping trip, as promised. The following weekend, Terra and I agreed we needed to ride and catch up. After tossing around some ideas, we settled on Nockamixon. I haven't been there since the first half of 2025.

Terra and I got off to a bit of a wishy washy start and almost called the whole thing off. In the end, it worked out and we met up around 1:30. 

From my house, Nockamixon is a pretty straightforward drive. I hop on the highway, cross into Pennsylvania, make two rights and a left and I'm there.

From Hannah's, the drive takes roughly the same amount of time, but it's a much more complicated route, with a series of iron truss bridges spanning the river. All the bridges are fairly narrow, though some are definitely worse than others. 

I spent a long time scouring maps, squinting at routes, and checking street views before committing to the trip. I chose the Milford Bridge as my crossing point. I've driven horse trailers across its span in my horse showing days at Bucks County Horse Park, so I knew it was doable.

Perfectly passable.

Once I knew where I was going, the drive wasn't bad. In fact, parts of the route were downright scenic. 

The bridge was a non-event, and I wisely avoided the aptly named Narrows Hill Road, which is definitely not passable by trailer even if I could somehow make the absurdly sharp turn to get on it.

Terra and I agreed to park on the north side of the lake. While I like the south side trails better, the parking on that side is downright brutal. I just didn't have it in me that day.

Terra was only a few minutes behind me and I got Max booted while she unloaded Lilac. My new multipurpose gaiters had arrived earlier in the week and this would be their maiden voyage. I freaking love these things. They prevent rubs and add a layer of security to the fit. I haven't had a problem with Max's boots twisting, but I suspect they would fix that too. That would have been nice to have in the past...

Terra and I did the entire north side loop, starting with the fields behind Deerwood Road. At every fork, we made a right turn so navigation was easy.

At the start of the ride, we ran into a pair of hunters sitting on a bench with their guns nearby. Bow season had opened in New Jersey that week, but I'll admit I don't know the laws in Pennsylvania. We weren't wearing orange, but I had a vest in my trailer. 

We stopped to say hello to the hunters, and they informed us that only bird and squirrel hunting was permitted that weekend in the park. Apparently it was opening day for squirrel.

"But don't worry," one of the men grinned. "These guys are a little big to get confused for squirrels."

There is a rocky/mucky creek crossing early in the ride. Terra and I had to double back a few times while I tried to remember the correct place to cross while avoiding the nearby cliff, but we got 'er done in the end. 

After that, there was a very rocky stretch. These were Max's first serious rocks, and I was pleased with how well he traversed them. He was cautious and thoughtful about his hoof placement, but the terrain didn't slow him down much. I think he'll be golden on technical terrain with some practice. 

We also had an accidental detour to the main road, but we had a lovely trot along the way so I'm not complaining. 

As we started to move out, we discovered a bit of a conundrum. Lilac is gaited and has a huge walking stride. She marches along much faster than Max can walk. Meanwhile, his trot outpaces her gait by a long shot. It was a bit of a challenge to pace these horses together, and Max definitely wanted to jog to catch up on a few occasions. 

Meanwhile, Lilac was in a hackamore. While Terra had brakes and steering, some of the finesse was lost along the way. 

We found a happy rhythm. We would take turns leading. 

Sometimes Max would lead at the walk and Lilac would have to deal with being stuck behind the slower horse. When she would start to get frustrated, we'd switch and Max would have to deal with being left behind. When that got old, we'd pick up a trot and Max would have to patiently slow his roll behind Lilac. And when we tired of that, we'd put Lilac in back where she'd have to work to keep up. 

We just kept cycling on repeat and it kept everyone happy while working on important skills the entire way.

Max was very happy to be out and seemed eager to move out all day, but I did notice an intermittent unevenness when I posted my left diagonal. At times he felt really good, but sometimes he was definitely slightly off.

This isn't a new development. Max has been off/on NQR up front since I got him. With the shape of his feet, I'm not super surprised that he travels unevenly. They're a work in progress and he is improving overall. There's no swelling or heat anywhere, and I've been keeping a close eye on how he moves.

I do have Max on Cosequin for maintenance at the moment, but I suspect the unevenness stems from his hooves. My farrier and I have been working on improving his feet, and I'll involve the vet if the unevenness persists.

For the time being, I'm reminding myself that Max doesn't need to be an endurance athlete to have a long and happy career. If he needs some maintenance to stay comfortable bebopping down the trail, babysitting Chip, and exercising the dog, I'm perfectly ok with that.

(Wow, that was a long tangent.)

Terra and I soon reached the far end of the peninsula where Lilac decided she was not a fan of shirtless men cliff diving. 

As we started onto the second half of our ride, we detoured down a mowed path that took us to some picnic tables with a scenic view of the lake on one side and a lily pad filled pond on the other. 

Max wasn't so sure about the steep downhill slide on the far side so I dismounted and hand walked him down. This gave me the opportunity to tail him up hill for the first time on our way out. 

As we continued along the lakeshore, we ran into something unexpected. We saw a man off the side of the trail in front of us. He was bent at the waist and preoccupied with something. 

A few strides later, Terra hissed over her shoulder, "Is that a machete?"

It sure was. 

It looked like the man was just clearing trail, but he didn't respond when we called out to say hello. It was a slightly unnerving feeling and I whispered, "We don't technically have to go this way."

Just as we were thinking of turning around to avoid this encounter, the man turned around and spotted us. His face lit up and he declared, "Your horses are beautiful!" 

We decided the risk of being diced into tiny pieces was probably small and carried on.

A little while later, we got in the lake to let the horses get a quick drink. Here, we spotted an osprey swooping over the water. Meanwhile, Max was studying the pontoon boats and kayaks floating nearby.

The next bit of trail is my favorite on the north side, with a little drop off on the right with the lake visible through the trees. It was lovely.

Terra borrowed my saddle bag for the afternoon.

We did get the horses in the water a second time. This spot was much more accessible. 

Max decided he wanted to wade in deeper than I intended. I think he would have gone swimming, but I turned him back towards shore. Unfortunately, my reflexes weren't fast enough to prevent dunking my shoes in the water. Oh well. It honestly felt pretty good on a muggy day.

The rest of the ride was uneventful and we soon retraced our steps across the little creek and around the cliff.

At the waterfall near the trailhead, we saw a family that included a young boy. He was very excited to see the horses and came running up after we invited him to say hello. I gave him some cookies to feed to Max, and he exclaimed excitedly, "I can feel his breath!" 

The little boy had absolutely no fear of the horses and probably would have chatted with us all afternoon if his mom hadn't eventually peeled him off. It was adorable. 

We finished the ride by coming through the same fields we'd started in.

It wasn't until we reached the parking lot that I noticed Lilac was missing a Scoot Boot. Terra hadn't noticed it was gone, but I was sure she'd had all four on when we crossed the creek for the final time.

Hoping that we'd have better luck than I'd had the previous weekend, we turned around to go boot hunting.

It turns out the boot had come off immediately after we did our boot check by the creek. The good news is that we found and retrieved it easily. Woohoo!

I wasn't complaining about getting a little extra saddle time either.

Happily munching on grass after nearly ten miles at a decent clip.

Terra and I parted ways with promises to do this more often. I took a slightly different route home from the Milford Bridge and made some mental notes for next time. Nockamixon is close enough that I really should do it more than once a year. 

Sadly, no ride seems to be complete without some degree of misadventure. 

I had noticed that Max had a slight mark near the top of his hind hoof when we arrived at Fair Hill the previous weekend. I didn't think much of it. When we got home, I noticed that it was worse. I wondered if it was from his Scoot Boots after nearly 40 miles of riding, but that seemed unlikely. 

I also wondered if he'd stepped on himself in the trailer.

When I got to Nockamixon, I noticed he had a cut in the same place again. I checked my divider and didn't find any evidence of a problem. There are absolutely no sharp edges.

Back at the barn, Max confirmed that whatever was happening was happening in the trailer. He unloaded with a chunk missing out of his hoof and cuts on his pastern as well. This time, there was blood all over the divider (still not sharp). 

Ouch, buddy!

Obviously, Max has spent plenty of time traveling in my trailer without injury so this was a surprise. I am a cautious driver who accelerates and turns slowly with horses in tow. Nobody else has had a problem. 

I didn't feel any rocking or scrambling while I drove.

I thought about taking the bottom half of the divider out in case Max needs a wider stance, but this won't work if I'm hauling multiple horses. After what happened to Dancer, I won't haul two horses without a full length divider. 

Even though I dislike shipping boots, I was prepared to order some if needed. This would be a band-aid and wouldn't address the root cause, though. 

In the end, I let Max heal. He has trailered out several more times since then and hasn't had another problem. I am hoping this was a fluke, but I've added it to my list of things to monitor.

Remind me why I have horses again?