The Bridges of Washington County

Last Trail Ride story - I promise!

So we're riding along on Sunday, maybe 45 minutes after "the incident" and we all stop.  We're wondering what's going on and hear a Scout on the walkie-talkie saying it's the first of the plywood bridges.  Huh?  Plywood bridges?  That doesn't sound like a good match for Tex!

I'm looking ahead and I see horses way in front of our wagon flipping out ... they're slipping and sliding and getting frightened by the sound of hooves on plywood.  They couldn't seem to get a grip with their metal shoes.  When their wagon crossed, the noise really got them scared and riders started getting off to walk their horses across.  So I ask Jerry if he thinks we should walk Tex across.

One of the experienced riders with our group was riding a younger horse - a beautiful dappled gray - and he said "I can tell you that my horse hasn't ever seen a plywood bridge and I'm walking him across".  After hearing that,  my mind was made up that we should get off even though it was hard for Jerry to get back on with his injury.

We gave our wagon some room and went one-by-one without any trouble.  Jerry was able to pull himself up on the other side of the bridge, but it was painful.  We couldn't understand why they had put plywood over a bridge, but when we got up there we could see that it was a metal grate and the horses couldn't have walked across it without some type of cover.  It was loud, but the plywood worked.

Later in the day - after lunch - we came upon the second plywood bridge.  Some walked and some rode from the groups ahead of us and when it came time for us to go, we went.  All of our horses walked the bridge with us in the saddle.  No issues - even for Tex!

For our first trail ride, we learned a lot.