Hello all! I spoke with Dirk today (Sunday, May 16) They are now on the other side of the Sault, Ontario and are enjoying the beautiful sunny weather. They expect to be in Thunder Bay in about one and a half weeks.
Dirk reports that the horses are in great shape and are building up muscle. I forgot to ask Dirk if he and Paul are also becoming more muscular! Definitely by the pictures, I see Dirk’s face is very tanned so there must be some sun getting to them…He said that he had a shave for the first time on their trip yesterday and that it felt great.
There are still lots of blackflies around to plague both horses and riders. They hope for windy days or rain so they don’t feel the bugs.
On good days they can make about 7 km an hour. Dirk reports that the horses are getting more aclimatized to life on the road, but as they get tired, they can get more skittish. They have improved since the beginning of the trip when they were spooked by crossing railroads or bridges. He said that one day near the start of the trip it took over 15 minutes to coax Chevy over a bridge! They saw a moose in the distance and that spooked the horses as did a herd of over 50 black cows that ran toward them to have a better look.
They keep emphasizing how they are meeting wonderful people along the way. Along a Highway 17 sideroad they met a gang of horseback riders and rode with them a ways. They were invited to spend the night on their farm and had a good night’s rest.
Their diet is still sparse consisting of cooked dried beans with garlic and ginger, dandelion greens and fiddleheads. Chef Dirk says that if you boil fiddleheads too long, they get rubbery. He also says that with eating all the beans, it’s sometimes “windy” on the trail.
That’s all for now!
Stay tuned…Jane Hubbard