for those of you who have not had the opportunity to visit asheville and to 'america's largest home' (what a blech catchphrase),
the biltmore estate is such a cool experience. the estate is 8,000 acres, including an enormous mansion, a winery, restaurants, acres upon acres of rolling hills, gardens, everything. i like to pretend i'm a vanderbilt when i'm on the property :)
i couldn't have felt more like a vanderbilt today:
vicki, the owner of my barn, invited me and one other woman to go ride on the trails. we got our horses ready and led them into the trailer. (side note: for the next little bit, saturday has to be in the shop to heal from some minor injuries. so during this hiatus, i've been riding...get this...sunday. sunday is an adorable little pony, who happens to look a lot like sweet saturday!)
ha sunday all locked up
30 minutes later, we pulled up to the estate where we let the horses out to tack up.
now here's where it gets great. during several points on the ride, vicki would turn to me and say 'corinne, this is a great area if you want to trot and canter!' so i'd go on ahead of them and cantered 'till my heart was content. i felt like belle on phillipe, galloping on sunday through the woods with no one else in sight! he had so much pep in his step out there--it was clear he was excited to be ridden outside in nature and not in a ring.
...and the whole time we were there, pink, vicki's 2 year old lab, stayed right next to the last horse, making sure everyone was together and safe :)
i thought i would be taking lots of pictures during the ride but once i got on, i never felt the need to whip it out. next time i'll bring my photog on foot.
i've decided i just must have horses when i grow up. two horses in a 4 stall barn.
zee life, no?
