Trail Riding
When our daughter Emma got her first horse for Christmas a few years ago, we got our first taste of “barn life” at Gaston Farm Equestrian Center” in Chester County. What a great place to be initiated to life as horse owners! The people we met and especially those who trained and influenced Emma (and us) are now lifelong friends.
As we met more and more “horse people” and learned about other equestrian facilities in the area, we were also deciding where we fit—and particularly which discipline was best for Emma. We explored English and Eventing such as dressage, cross country, and show jumping. We also attended rodeos (love them!) and considered all the Western fun such as barrel racing, reining, cutting, roping, and more.
We also went trail riding all over the country: Myrtle Beach, Florida, the mountains and foothills of North Carolina, the desert in Arizona, the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, and an especially exciting ride to a mountain top overlooking Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
During this time, one fact kept standing out to us: Trail riding can be a special, very unique time for horse and rider. Many horse lovers spend most of their time riding in circles, either in Eventing or Rodeos. Those are certainly great times of relationship between horses and humans, but we noticed that a different kind of relationship occurs when one spends time with a horse on a trail, with both simply enjoying the experience together and neither party “working”.
A little research revealed few places that offer extended trail riding in our area. There are certainly some interesting trail rides around the Piedmont, and we highly recommend them, but we wanted a place with MILES of varied trails for all levels of riding. That is our dream for Dark Family Ranch.
Currently, we have about 12 miles of trails planned, and we have cut about 2 of those miles with the goal of having all trails cut by Spring 2022.
WATCH FOR COMPLETE DETAILS COMING SOON.