Jim Edgar State Park AQHA Ride

This was our First trip to Jim Edgar State Park, which is north of us 3-4 hours. I always thought it would be flat and boring. It is mostly flat, but it was all right. It was still a very nice weekend. The equestrian campground was really nice--they had odd contraptions for tying your horse, and no shade for the horses at all, but all the sites were really large and we had no trouble fitting. The camp host was super nice. This is Target leaving camp the first day, with the dayriders parked behind him.

This Is Twister's impression of an alpaca--doesn't he look odd here? But the point is that the caretakers of the campground really keep up --not only was it mowed well, it was trimmed too! Can you imagine?
The first day we rode the red trail, which was probably at least 65% open fields like this and very little woods or hills. It was all right at this time of year, but it would be miserable in the heat of the summer.
This is the view from the path.
This is the only water we happened on the first day--just a little creek. But of course, I take a picture of it as I love a water pic.
There were a couple on Sunday. Targ does so beautifully with water crossings--he never ever has hesitated and never paws or does anything silly.
The deeper the better--he likes it. It is cute
This is Twister-cam. They have scenic outlooks, with actual signs posted, which is kind of funny to me. At least it did show us that there were some hills
At the lookouts, they have a metal hitching post. That is nice to let us get a drink and let hte boys get a breath.
This was taken from an outlook. I bet it will be really pretty in a month when the trees change


It was worth going to. The Illinois QHA sponsored this ride, and they were really nice people, but they blew it big time on a few things. For example, they would set the time for a group ride, confirm the time and then take off. They left us twice. That would be BOTH times we tried to go with the group. That left us to ride alone, which we could have done at home and been 500 bucks ahead but it was still fun to ride the boys in a different place, learn more about Target and give me the chance to fight out Twister's stubborn streak, and WIN. That was cool

The leaving early and not sticking to their schedule was kind of crappy where the flyer mentioned that day riders were welcome--what if we had driven all that way to ride one day (like we invited someone to do with us) and the group left half an hour early? Bad enough they did it to us, but that would have been really bad. Since these are fundraiser rides, it does not make sense to disillusion people that are willing to financially support the program, does it? If they have it here next year, I may go, but I will not drive again to participate in one of their rides--so they just beat themselves out of our healthy donations.

I feel like I should point this out to someone but I cannot figure out who and how--but I will. Unless I get tired and don't bother, but in the end that does not help them either. Feedback can help things sometimes, and I would want to know how to make it better if I were running things.
Wouldn't you?
.