Griffin Steps Up to the Plate

With Q out of commission for the remainder of the year, I quickly pivoted to getting miles in on the geldings. Thank goodness for three horses!

However, I was swiftly thwarted by Stanley's feet. 

See, I had planned to glue fronts on both boys for the autumn. But Stan has decided he'd rather grow a different hoof now than he had when I measured him earlier in 2025 for shoes. Which, honestly? Fine. Good for you, Stan. It's a better hoof than it was before. I'll take that. Unfortunately, said "better hoof" means he doesn't currently fit in the shoes nor in any of my boots. Womp womp. 

Knowing that I'm only going to bust out miles in the next 3-4 weeks before the days get darkest and the weather [probably] turns wetter and colder, I opted to not buy new boots or shoes for Stan. If his feet are transitioning, we'll just wait for spring to commit dollars to something that will work for him. Spending money on something for only a few weeks just seems silly. 

And thus, Griffin became the first string horse for all my autumn miles!

Who, me?!

I glued fronts on Grif on the 6th and then glued hinds - the shoes that were originally for Stan - on the 11th. A perfect fit. 

The shoeing process went super smoothly each time. I've really got my process down for these  - and that feels so good! The "work" phase of prepping the hoof and getting the shoe prepped, applying glue, and wrapping immediately after glue application takes me about 30 minutes for two shoes. After that, it takes another 30 minutes to "finish", but this period doesn't involve any hard work. I wait 15 minutes or so for the acrylic glue to set, then remove the plastic and seal the acrylic glue areas with super glue and wait another 10 minutes or so for that to dry. 

I've always booted Grif, but it wasn't until my first ride on him with four shoes that I realized how much this horse really prefers to be shod all the way round vs in boots. The shoes give him more protection and comfort than boots can and he is So Much Happier. We were both absolutely giddy with excitement about it our first ride. I will 100% be glueing shoes all the way 'round on him next year. 

Ready to rock and roll

Our first ride out was to the Seneca Creek backcountry with Sonya. I planned a casual 10.8 miles for us, but included trails neither of us had been on much - if ever. 

Per the usual, we parked at Johnny Meadows and took Swallow Rock trail up to Allegheny Mtn trail to access the other trails. On this day, we did a little lollipop loop from Allegheny → Leading Ridge → North Prong → Allegheny and then back down Swallow Rock to our starting point. 

It. Was. LOVELY! After Swallow Rock, everything else was lovely grass/loam footing. Wide trails that you could really move out on. We didn't on this day because Sonya's mare is out of shape, but I will 100% be going back to enjoy some zoomy rides up here. 

Bonus, we didn't see a single human! AND the high mountain meadow openings were absolutely gorgeous. Landscapes like those are some of my absolutely favorite in all of West Virginia.

Questioning life

Up Swallow Rock

Leading Ridge

Leading Ridge

Leading Ridge

North Prong

North Prong - one of many high elevation meadows

Allegheny

A few days after the ride with Sonya, Grif and I headed to a USFS road closer to home for a solo ride. I've ridden this road before, but had turned around before really exploring the closed gate portion of it. On this day, with no time limit and no real expectation beyond enjoying some miles in the beautiful weather, we were able to explore all the way to the end of one of two gated sections of road. It was just a simple out and back, but was enjoyable all the same.

Grif was AWESOME. This was our first bigger ride really moving out in ages. I could tell he was really having fun. He was so eager to move forward down the trail and easily maintained a 6+ mph pace on everything except the steeper climbs (and "steeper climb" is generous because this entire route is really mild and chill). 

I was delighted to discover that the gated section of road was overgrown with grass making for super lovely footing. Griffin was also thrilled based on how much more he moved out for these miles! I found myself cruising along with a smile for most of this section because my horse was just so happy and content. It was also a delightfully pretty section with patches of spruce and hemlock and multiple headwater stream crossings. 

We reached a dead end of the road at exactly the 6 mile mark from the trailer at the 1-hour mark from our start. Because we'd have more climbing heading back, I didn't expect we'd complete the whole ride in 2 hours, but Grif surprised me and really moved out through bits of the return. All in all, we completed 12 miles in 2 hours and 2 minutes! Bravo, Grif!

Road ridin'

The grassy section that was new to us

Such a lovely day

Ample red spruce

I couldn’t be more grateful for Griffin stepping up this fall. While it’s never ideal to have plans derailed (the nature of horses, it seems), it’s been such a joy to have Grif feeling his best and loving the miles as much as I do. His enthusiasm has been infectious and has made these autumn rides extra special. With Q on the mend and Stan growing out his new kicks, I’m soaking up every good-weather mile we can snag before winter settles in. Stay tuned, I've got multiple rides sketched out to take Grif on in the coming week!