Friends,

How was your weekend? Mine turned out to be a little more adventurous than I planned for. My 11 year old daughter’s friend stayed with us. She has been taking riding lessons for a few month. My daughter used to ride but stopped a while ago. Recently she has shown a renewed interest in riding, so as a Birthday present I arranged for the two to go trail riding in the Cibola National Forest east of Albuquerque. I wasn’t going to ride since I had not been feeling so well. However when I checked the girls in there was an extra saddled horse waiting for me. I jumped on the chance and went with them. We rode for over an hour through national forest. It was pretty steep going up and down, but the views were rewarding.

Here are the girls getting safety instructions by our horse guide. My 11 year old is wearing the turquoise jacket.

My daughter’s friend is saddling up.

And we are on the trail.

A wish I had captured the view better. It was quite windy, and I am not adapt to taking pictures while holding the rains…

Here we are an hour and a half later back at the stable with me to the right.

This would be a fun adventure for a family with kids ages 8 and older.

I paid $30 per person plus tax for an hour ride. I would recommend starting with one hour if you are not used to riding (I’m pretty sore today). However Cedar Crest Stables also does 2, 4, and 6 hour rides. Click on the link for more info. If you ride in the mountains bring an extra jacket, it is often colder up there.

Have a great day,

Sofija