Now to elaborate a little bit about the levels of trail riding, as I see it.

1. Ride around the house for an hour or two at a time. Don’t own a trailer. Must hire somebody to bring your horse home when you bought it. Buy used saddle.

2.  Buy a little horse trailer and meet with three or four friends to a place less than an hour from home. Ride four or five hours. Come home that evening. Do this five or six times a year.

3. Go with a club or many friends and stay over night. Make do with trailer with only a small dressing room, sleep in cars or trucks or tents. Rough it.

4. Crowd gets bigger. Buy a generator and camping equipment. Bathe in 5 gallon bucket. Ride with 50 or more people. All kinds of people, all types of horses, all levels of riding ability. Two or three days.

5. Buy trailer with living quarters, buy bigger truck, buy another horse. Travel all day with friends to ride for a week. This is very good. Pack lots of food and lots of clothing. Can cook meals conveniently in the camper/trailer. Bed to sleep in and shower in bath house, of all things.

6. Take big truck and pull big camper/trailer. Take good horses. Meet friends beside the interstate. Go to real horse camp and ride with friends.

7.  Buy bigger trailer. Buy dually truck. Buy good saddle. Go to Trail Riding facility and shower in big trailer, put horse in stables, go to dining hall to eat three times a day. This is where we are now!

8.  Take big truck, big trailer and hit the road for a couple of months at a time.  Call family often.  Visit.  Sightsee. Rest. 

I am sure there are additional stages but I only have a glimpse of what they might be. I think it has something to do with leaving in April and returning in November.

Then there is a stage where you sell everything you have and spend the rest of your life on the road with your horse.

Right now, I am delighted to have graduated to spend some more time at level 8.