Probation

Jupiter is "feeling his oats"! We had another rodeo on Saturday. He scared the crap out of me and I screamed bloody murder. Then I yelled at him to "knock it off," "stop it," or just plain "doggone it"! Somehow, "WHOA" never seems to the word that comes out of my mouth. (: Thankfully he recognizes the tone, I guess. Toni said he had all four feet off the ground at one point. I had one foot in a stirrup, because the other one had broken when he scraped us along a fir tree to avoid the deep mud. Oh, and now both my reins are tied in with a shoe string and zip tie respectively. Having no stirrup taught me how to use my thighs like I'm supposed to, versus putting too much weight in the stirrup. Anyway, I don't know if he got stung and that's why he put on a show--Brady and I have had bees there before, but once again we were the entertainment.

Earlier in the day I used my reins to lace his behind when he continued to reach out to eat poison oak, you know like Lynn does to Ziggy every little while, and like how Shirley says to lace him a good one when he starts to buck--uh-huh--guess what happened? He humped up and got ready to give it right back to me. He has authority issues just like me. The only thing is, I AM his authority and we are getting that straight! So how does it happen that we get horses (and dogs and cats) that have similar personalities to ours? (I am sure the women I got him from would say it was my fault--it's true: he was pretty perfect when I bought him!)

Sunday morning I told him nobody would ever love him more than me, but he was on probation and if he didn't behave, he would be headed back to Springfield and dropped off. (Lynn corrected me later and said it was Roseburg.) Nevertheless, he behaved the entire ride. No eating while we were walking, no rodeos. I think maybe he was worried because he didn't know what Springfield meant. Ha!

Do as I say, not as I do

Ziggy's feet are going to be an advertisement for Farrier's Choice (what's its name?). He is faithfully coming down to the back door to get his treat and his medicine. Unfortunately, poor Indy wants to be everyone's favorite and on Sunday, he once again caused (innocently!) an accident. He saw Zigs getting something and down he came. When Ziggy saw him, instead of just snuffling his stuff--he grabbed for it and took Lynn's finger with him. Since she was on one side of the fence and he was on the other, I imagine it sounded something like this:

OW!

(right click and open a new tab for a sound byte )

Of course she has an incredible pain tolerance, so even though she thought her finger was gone completely, when the doctor asked her what level of pain she had, she replied, "Oh I don't know--a two maybe."

Ziggy's teeth scraped the bone, but did not break it. She still has her finger, albeit it's full of stitches. Lee's mad and says the horses are down the road, but we know how much say he has in that realm. Poor guy has been to the emergency room more than his quota with that girl. He said, "When does the 'for better' part start in the 'for better or for worse' section of the marriage vows?"

Moonlight in the Meadow

Saturday was a full moon. Lynn said she always wanted to ride during a full moon. (kinda like she always wanted to ride to the store?) Toni and I met her at 6pm and loaded up the boys. It was a pleasant evening and we rode the hoop-de-do trail. Buckwheat is definitely green and he gave Toni some problems. He made it very clear that he really wanted to be home, eating his dinner. He does not care what Ziggy and Jupiter do! They are not part of his herd and he's not going to follow them.

Toni remembered how to be a cowgirl from her younger days. She stayed on when he bucked; she made him continue up the trail when he balked; she made him behave when Jupiter got spooked and scared him. She did great!

We came out of the woods and into the meadow just as the moon came up over the ridge. It was huge. It had the color that an autumn moon has--kind of an orangey-yellow. It was as if it we could reach out and touch it. We rode back up to the truck, keeping the moon in sight. It really was special. When we were brushing the boys and putting away tack, it was like there was a street light on--it was that bright. I am really glad we fulfilled another one of Lynn's "I always wanted to. . ." things. (This one was much better than let's ride to the store.)

Thanks, Lynn for another fun adventure.

A life of leisure

Since I am on summer vacation, I spend more time on the couch watching things I've recorded. This morning was no exception. As I sat and ate my breakfast burrito, I watched America by Horseback with Tom Seay. It was one I had watched in the past, but I enjoyed it again. I am thinking we need to go and experience it ourselves. It was set in Norco, CA--also known as "HorseTown." Lynn's dream of riding to the store and tying up would be realized here. People ride everywhere; in fact they boast that there are more horses than people in their town. Store owners are required to have a "tie rail" for their customers. The traffic lights have raised buttons on the corners so people ahorseback can reach them easily. Trails run parallel to all the roads in town and there are 180 miles of trails outside of town. I did not see any boots on the horses, but with all the road crossings, I would be more comfortable if my horse wore them. Because Tom Seay was there with hundreds of riders, Troxel came and offered people to trade in their hats for helmets (for free!). I guess a lot did.  Anyway, I enjoyed the show and thought about how much fun we would have there.

http://www.norco.ca.us/
http://www.trailtownusa.com/index.php
http://www.trailblazermagazine.us/

I also watched a Mantracker. It was with Kurtis, the Native American cute guy, and the prey were two young guys who rode the river rapids to win. Kurtis was riding his favorite horse when he slipped on the muddy, steep trail and fell into the creek. Kurtis pulled himself off the horse by hanging on a tree branch and the horse was mired in the mud to his hip! Thankfully the horse was fine--he got out on his own. Kurtis threw a branch down into the mud and hopped over to the dry land without getting any mud on himself. See, you're not supposed to get dirty when you ride. Or maybe it's just the TV factor. Anyway, we probably would have all wallowed in the mud with the horse. I guess that's why no one has called to invite us to be on a TV show.

Take 2: The Whale at Klamath