Hershey playing in the waves

If you want a great beach ride, head over to Pacific City! The weather was very overcast with drizzle when we left our stable here in Newberg but glorious sunshine when we got to the beach! This is so often the case with the coast and the rule of thumb I’ve heard is if it’s grey, overcast, and raining inland – good bet it’ll be nice on the coast. My horse Hershey finally overcame his fear of going into the waves. This was his 6th or 7th trip to the coast but the first time I asked him to do more than just step into the frothy wave foam. We actually went pretty deep, waves to his belly and into my boots. The biggest obstacles to overcome for getting your horse into the water is the sound of the crashing surf, the white foam of the waves and that horrible dizzy feeling when you look at the water going in and out – the horses actually start to sway sideways!  Hershey got used to the white foam and if I kept him moving with his head up (and not look at the water myself) we managed not to tip over. The crashing surf sounds were a little more challenging. He still would flinch and tuck up on the really loud ones.

There are hours and hours of riding to do on the beach and on the trails leading to the beach (Bob Straub State Park). We did lots of walking and playing in the water but took some nice long canters too and our ride was 3 hours. We weren’t even in the trails for very long. There are hours of riding there! When the horses first hit the beach coming off the trail they are either frozen with fear (if it’s the first time) or filled with exhilaration. Since it wasn’t a first time for our horses, they were eager and kept tossing their heads and dancing around.

Beware of a couple of things while riding on the beach at Pacific City. When coming off the trail onto the beach you come down a deep sand dune. This is very tempting for the horses to lay down. Since they often sink up to their knees coming down the small hill, they figure it’s not that much farther to just lay down and do a little rolling. One of our young colts does it most times. Just remember to give them some “strong” leg aids if you feel them going down. Don’t be afraid to be forceful. Worse comes to worse get off! Also, remember that running in deep sand is a strain to your horses fetlock joints and pasterns.  We try to get down to the hard packed sand near the waters edge before we do any galloping. If the tide is high and you’re stuck to the deep sand, just remember to not push your horse too hard through this – short loping stretches mixed with lots of walking is best. You’d hate to ruin a good ride by laming your horse.