Over the summer, we took our horses to the beach for the first time! In spite of being from Florida, Bamboozal, in his 25 years, had never visited the beach, so this was a bucket list item! On our Oregon Horse Camping Trip, we stopped at Cape Blanco State Park, which has a REALLY nice equestrian campground (review to follow shortly!)
As we do in most new places, we always take our horses for a walk/hike the first day we get somewhere. This is for two reasons. 1. They’ve probably been on the trailer all day, and need to stretch their legs, and 2. Seeing something from the ground first is a great way to get familiar with the trail heads and surrounding areas. Our horses are seasoned trail horses and campers, but this is a REALLY good idea to do with green horses or those new to traveling. It really helps to build their confidence.
About a mile out from camp, you get to the end of a forested trail that opens up into a clearing with a gorgeous view of the Pacific Ocean.
Here’s Bamboozal’s first look! He’s just taking it all in (and a few bites of grass too.)
The trail continues and heads downhill. Before you reach the actual beach, you have to navigate a pretty steep dune, which is hock-deep on Monk and nearly belly-deep on Bamboozal. Getting up and down it is NOT fun, and we didn’t find any other trail. I do have some footage of the dune in an upcoming video and blog about riding here, so make stay tuned if you want to see that.
***I’m not a fan of deep sand (and neither is Bamboozal), so if your horse isn’t used to sand, don’t ride fast or hard through it. You could risk a tendon or ligament injury pretty easily.***
We tend to take it easy until we get to hard packed sand, where it’s safer and less taxing on the horses (and us on this hike!)
Bamboozal’s number-one joy in life is rolling, ESPECIALLY in soft sand, so this was a treat. Monk seemed like she wanted to roll, but never did. She’s much more vigilant and more of a worrier than Bamboozal, so I don’t think she can ever be as fully relaxed and comfortable as he is to just lay down and take a roll whenever and wherever. He will roll anywhere that looks comfortable. Monk only really lays down or rolls in the comfort and safety of her own paddock, when the weather’s nice and no buddies are missing, and nothing out of the ordinary is going on or any dogs are barking anywhere…
After hanging out closer to the dunes for a while, we headed down to the water. Both horses were curious and bold. We let them sniff the water and hang out and gradually walk out to where the tide was coming in. Horses hate when water comes at them, but Monk and Bamboozal did pretty well. They were a little worried, but the surf was fairly calm, so it wasn’t like big waves crashing in. It was a good day to have their first visit to the beach.
Max and Monk took a little jog!
Finally, we headed back to the dune and our hike back to camp.
Overall, this was a very positive FIRST beach experience for both horses. Unfortunately, we were there a little early in the season still (END OF JUNE), and it was COLD and SO WINDY the whole time. I actually had to cut the sound out of the video footage. If I was going back, I may have considered ear plugs for the horses, as the days we rode, they were just a little more edgy and amped up than I would have liked. Who could blame them though? New WILD place and just about as windy as we’ve ever encountered.
For our horses first time at the beach, I couldn’t be prouder. They both did fantastic, and it was an overall positive and empowering experience.
Stay tuned for upcoming blogs which include a review of the trails and equestrian campground at Cape Blanco State Park, and footage and info from our beach rides!
Until next time, Happy Trails!