HORSEBACK RIDING AT KURTZ CORRAL

Not far from where we are staying in Door County is a place called Kurtz Corral. Pinkie-Pepper knew that there were places where we could go horseback riding nearby from browsing brochures of local attractions and she had asked if we could go. Since @mama-pepper really enjoys riding horses too (and since she is not pregnant at the moment) we decided that we should take them out for a bit.

When we saw this sign, we knew that we were getting close and the girls got even more excited. Perhaps one day we will have one of our own for them to ride, but @papa-pepper told the @little-peppers, "House first, then horse." We will see.

In just a few minutes we arrived at Kurtz Corral and were ready to get our adventure started.

GETTING STARTED

One of the first things that we had to do was to watch some videos. They wanted to make sure that everyone who rides their horses knows exactly how they expect riders to behave. By recording an instructional video ahead of time, the employees did not need to personally spend the time giving basic instructions to every new rider.

Like many recreational activities, people (or animals) can even potentially get hurt or die. The official statute from Wisconsin state law was posted on the wall. After being in business for 56 years now, Kurtz Corral takes the safety of their guests and their animals seriously, so it was good for us to watch the video before getting started.

While the video was finishing up, we even got to put our helmets on. Some people may think that it is silly, but helmets can help prevent head injuries, so every rider here had to wear a helmet. Besides providing us with helmets, they also gave us each four horse treats. We were to give two to our horse before the ride and call them by name while feeding the treats to them.

This is a sort of introduction that also allows the horse to meet us in a positive way (treats) and to be able to hear our voice call their name. Here are the names of the horses that each of us got to ride.


Pinkie-pepper meeting Picasso

Red-pepper climbing on Harry

As you can tell from the look on the face of Pinkie-pepper, this was the moment that our girls had been waiting for. They sure do love all sorts of animals and for some reason it seems that a lot of children dream of having a horse or pony. I know that the daughter of @truconspiracy sure does.

While it is obviously not possible for every child to have their own horse, at least some children can get the opportunity to go out riding like this.

THE RIDE

After a quick practice run around the training ring, we were ready for the trail. Other than the fact that we were taking a "walking" ride, we did not really know what to expect. Another couple was going on a "walking/trotting" ride, so the trail guide would take off with them on a longer loop every once in a while.

During those times, @mama-pepper would lead the way and I would bring up the rear. Here is a short video of us riding that I made while were by ourselves on the trail.

We also took some wooded paths. I think that it must have rained recently, because there was quite a bit of mud, but it was nice to be out in the woods riding on a horse.

This GIF may be a little faster than we were actually going, but you get the basic idea. The girls and @mama-pepper had a wonderful time on the ride, and the @little-peppers even suggested that maybe we should go do it again.

This photo was taken nearer the end of the ride. We went through a lot of apple trees, which was nice to see. I love seeing real food growing in its natural state.
WRAPPING THINGS UP

After about an hour, we made it back to the stable. It was now time for us to dismount and say farewell to our horses.

Thankfully, the trail guide offered to take some group photos while we were still mounted, so it gave us a good chance to document our adventure with some photographic evidence. Eventually, photos like this will be used to fill in some blanks as time presses on.

The girls each dismounted by themselves. Here you can see Red-pepper climbing up the fence to hook her horse up.

Though it was time for our ride to be over and our adventure to come to an end, the girls took it well. It was also time for us to thanks our horses and give them our last two treats.

This made for a sweet goodbye, at least for the horses.
Although we only met four of their horses, we sure enjoyed the others that we saw. In total they have over 40 horses at Kurtz Corral right now. Though I am no expert, I believe that these horses are very well taken care of and that they are living a good life.

Personally, I would recommend taking a trail ride at Kurtz Corral to anyone who is planning on heading up to the Door County Wisconsin area, as long as they like horses. We certainly has an amazing time and it was great to do something special with some of the older children. It was also nice that the youngest three of the @little-peppers were able to spend some extra time with @grandpa-pepper and my mom.