Free coffee, ClifBars and plenty of carrot cake
Desensitization clinic. Jade offering a carrot to a horse.
Carrots are like candy to a horse.
Jun working with Soliel. Soliel was really spooked by bikes.
Katelyn on Rusty the pony
The pony rides were a bonus for the little ones.
Jade and Rusty
Jade has been a mountain biker for almost 4 years. But she loves ponies best of all!
Bruce, Rusty, Eva and Kristin
Murial on Rusty
Jade's second pony ride of the day and she already thinks she's an expert rider.
Geoff spent a lot of time with Soliel. This was the true success story of Carrot Fest 2007. See http://mbosc.blogspot.com/2007/05/soliel-makes-progress-at-carrot-fest.html
Towards the end of the clinic Soliel was much more comfortable around moving bikes.
A horse/bike encounter at the bottom of Enchanted Loop.
The Praly family. Mother and Daughter are Equestrians and the Father is a mountain biker. Carrot Fest was a rare opportunity for this family to ride together on the same trails.
On the early part of the ride mountain bikers and equestrians were riding together up along the dump trail. The trail was narrow and overgrown and the bikers managed to get fresh manure on the tires. We mentioned that the horses are comfortable with us since we smell like them.
Equestrians and mountain bikers can look at what we have done in Santa Cruz county as an example of how to get along and share the trails. We are all trail users who have a passion to enjoy the open space with our favorite steeds.
It was a great day so Geoff, Sebastien and I spend the rest of the afternoon doing a nice long ride. It's days like this that make me feel lucky to be a mountain biker in Santa Cruz.
