“So, we went close to five miles,” I said as I squinted at the phone’s map app.
“That’s impressive, considering how long it’s been since any of us have done this,” said my mom.
We had just finished a horse ride in the Natchez Trace State Park in Tennessee. Although my mom had ridden there before, this was my first time.
The park was named for the Natchez Trace, an important wilderness path in the 18th and 19th centuries. The road went from parts of Mississippi to Nashville and is honored through parks in multiple states, including Tennessee.
The park was part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal program, under which 48,000 acres of land were purchased. The Conservation Civilian Corps and Works Administration Program established buildings and the area foundational to the modern park, according to the Tennessee State Parks website.
There are some things any potential riders should know before visiting the park with their horses.
“It is public land and a lot of the trails have multiple use access, so they need to understand that there may be some areas where you run across bicycles or an ATV or an off-road vehicle,” said Chris Hill, park manager.
Since it is public land, owners are required to have a negative Coggins test for their horses. The Coggins blood test checks horses for an equine virus and is commonly required at riding facilities and when crossing state lines.
Once you have the necessary paperwork, you are set to begin riding. The park includes a Wranglers campground, where people can camp with their horses. Hill said the pricing can vary depending on when people are trying to camp. However, people can go online to schedule their camping trip and reserve a spot.
If camping is not your style, the day-use parking for horse trailers is free of cost. This is where we parked our trailer to begin our ride.
The scenery driving into the park was gorgeous. Trees surrounded the roadway, and since it was only September, they were still in full greenery.
Once we pulled into the gravel parking lot beyond the barn, we unloaded our horses and got ready to hit the trail.
The trails were primarily sand, which was a bonus since our horses were barefoot. Gravel trails can be harder for horses without shoes because the rocks can hurt their feet at times.
I hopped into the saddle and began looking for a trail. We had not bothered to stop at the visitor center for any kind of map, instead trusting mom’s memory and hoping the trails would be well-marked.
“Do we have to cross the road and go back to that trail we saw up the road?” I said.
“I don’t remember having to cross a road,” Ann said.
The first opening I approached did not have any kind of sign.
“Let’s ride around and see if there are other trails around this area before we decide,” I said.
We rode around the clearing, when another opening in the thick, green foliage appeared. And this one even had a sign!
“Barn. Do you think that is the name of the trail?” I said.
We decided to follow the trail. At the time, I barely noticed the little ribbon tied around the sign. However, that ribbon became very important to me soon.
Natchez Trace State Park uses trail markers tied around trees and branches to denote different trails. Different trails have different colors. We followed the yellow trail signs associated with the Barn trail.
The horses’ hooves thudded gently on the sand. Some birds sang in the trees, and the leaves rustled with a gentle breeze, but it was mostly silent. The paths twisted throughout the trees, some places showing where people had blazed their own trails around obstacles.
The silence was only broken by our conversation and the creaking of my leather saddle, which needed oiling.
Sometimes, we rode for a ways without seeing the little yellow ribbon amongst the greenery.
“There’s a yellow ribbon,” mom said.
We continued on for a while until my horse stopped in the middle of the trail. We had come to a wooden bridge, and our path lay on the other side of it.
Although we had practiced crossing little wooden bridges all the time on obstacle courses, my horse, Phoenix, could not bring himself to cross this wider, longer wooden bridge.
He would set a foot on the bridge and then back off. Finally, my mom took the lead on her horse, Darius. Darius walked across the bridge with no problem. Once Phoenix watched his half-brother cross the bridge, he decided it was safe for him too.
I had not turned on the map, but I did so then. We continued riding until our Barn trail dead-ended into a separate trail. We decided to follow the blue trail for a while. Here, it was even sandier terrain.
I was enjoying the ride, gazing at the beautiful woods around me. Fields of ferns stretched throughout the trees catching the sunlight, and tall pines stood scattered throughout.
Then my seat dropped out from under me. ‘Not again,’ I thought as I scrambled off my horse right before he started rolling in a nice patch of sand on the trail. Phoenix enjoys laying down if he thinks you’re not paying attention, especially in water or sand.
He had somehow managed to lay down, almost in mid-stride. I did not have the presence of mind to correct him, but I will hopefully manage to catch him before he decides to lay down again.
We turned around not long after that and made it back to the trailer without incident (although Phoenix still refused to cross the bridge until Darius did).
Overall, Natchez Trace State Park provides a quiet, almost idyllic ride, providing your horse is not a mischievous half-Welsh pony.
Although my mom and I only visited the state park, Natchez Trace State Forest also has some trails for riding, but those can change depending on where the Forest Service is working, Hill said.
Although the exact timeline for when people started camping with and riding horses at the Natchez Trace State Park is not easily found, Hill did say it had been part of park activities since at least the 1970s.
The Natchez Trace State Park provides the feeling of a remote riding destination. We were the only ones there that day . It was the perfect place for Mom and I to enjoy our love of trail riding together.
