It's a good thing riding is a reward in itself. . .

Shirley is off to Montana, so we decided to go to the arena in Junction City. You know Star would've been too bored with this adventure. First things first meant riding up a steep, I mean steep, trail/road above the arena. It just kept going and and going. There was no top to that hill. But the idea was to "take the soup out of them" as Lynn says, before we took them into the arena. Jupiter especially.

We went into the arena and practiced opening and closing a very heavy gate. Lynn and Ziggy did it twice on one end and once on the other end, but Jupes and I were never successful (we only tried a couple of times). Then we trotted and walked around in circles. I practiced figure 8s and turning where the barrels would've been. Lynn worked on side passes. I went over and she showed us how. Jupes was like, "I do not understand what you are asking of me." I didn't work on it very long.

White barrels outside of the arena are very scary. But Jupiter got used to them. Then Lynn brought in the barrels and set them up. While Ziggy was still tied up and Lynn was out of the arena, we did the cloverleaf successfully at least twice; albeit, the corners were too wide, but we did it on a slow trot. Then Lynn rode Ziggy around them. Ziggy took the barrels tight and easy and they loped back to "the finish line." It was pretty. Jupiter never did the entire cloverleaf in one easy, fluid motion again. He fought and fought and we had to walk and swing out into nothing close to turn. Somehow, we lost his left turn and he only wanted to go right! He'd had enough, I guess. If Shirley would've been there, she would have made me work harder--I should've used my spurs more or something.

I attempted to trot him around the area and then go into a canter, but when he started into it, once again I grabbed at the reins instead sitting back and he quit. I hate that it scared me for a second! I have lost confidence with him ever since he attempted to buck the last two times I let him go fast. Darn it. We never tried again. I wanted to, but then he started acting up--being stubborn and just stopping or fighting turning to his left at all and wanting to just go back to the trailer and eat some grain. I guess I have created a monster. Dang it. I have to work harder on both of us. Going off in the arena wouldn't have hurt as much as in the woods, so I should have just done it there, but we quit. I am sure it's frustrating for Lynn to have to watch my ineptness and his spoiled nature.

In contrast, watching Ziggy and Lynn was like poetry in motion. They looked good. He was stretching his long legs out and she just sat effortlessly on him. She didn't make him run like I thought she would, but they worked on stuff by the fence. I think she only did the barrels about 1/8 the speed she used to do them and I think she only did them once. We rode in circles  side by side trying to get Jupiter to focus on something other than the trailer a few times, but only at a slow trot. With Ziggy on the outside, it forced Jupes to keep turning.We only did it a couple of times and never got fast enough to canter. Later, we found some poles after we decided to quit and we were going to set them up, but their bottoms were broken. Lynn got Ziggy to go into the bushes and let her drag out the pole. When she let go of it, I dragged the pole a little so Jupiter could get the feel of it, too. Lynn does stuff like that all the time when we are riding, but I haven't ever attempted to pull something or carry something big on Jupiter. We would simply fail trail trials.

The dogs were cute. They ran and jumped along the outside of the arena--sort of mimicking what the horses were doing inside. They were both good and stayed close, even though there were dogs barking somewhere over the rise.

So that was our day. We didn't ride very long and I don't think either of us accomplished or even attempted what we had hoped to do. I'm not sure either of us even worked very hard to reach our goals. It was kind of a bust. Good thing Star wasn't there.

Beating the heat

Well, it's time to catch up again! We rode in Orick one Saturday and it was a beautiful day. The temperature was in the middle 60s and the sun was shining. You can't ask for more than that. Well, I guess Lynn can. She had a very disappointing ride--there had been sightings of two mama bears, one with triplets and one with only one, and although we heard a bear, we did not see it. Lynn's latest thing has been, "You know, if I see I bear I'm gonna run it!" No more just looking it at and being happy to see it--it is all about running as fast Zig can to chase the bear. As much as I used to enjoy seeing bears, I was very happy we did not--Jupiter is always as wound up as he possibly can be when we're at Orick and I am not sure I would be able to hold him if Lynn and Shirley took off as fast they could go. I would definitely be over the edge, impaled on a redwood and he would kicking his heels as high as he could and running like a wild man, free of my excess weight, trying to catch up.

Knock on wood--we have been bee free. Two days we have been around the Hennessey Ranch meadow and one we rode up the hill, skirting the trails with known bee pockets. Star went both days this weekend and I did not hear Shirley yell, "STAR!" once. Jupiter was a little tight yesterday, but managed to do some hard trotting without kicking his feet out and threatening to buck (I thought he outgrew that, but he did it again twice this month). Today he was awesome, even cantered a tiny bit. Ziggy was Ziggy. He did everything Lynn asked him to do, even though he pooped his way down the steep trail that makes him nervous (5x maybe?).

News on Alisa's side of the mountain--Keota went off the side of hill, but she stayed on and he climbed back up on the trail. Pretty darn scary! I am glad both of you are okay and I can only imagine how frightening it would have been to be your friend who powerlessly watched you. I think it is worse sometimes to be the one who is watching because the one it happens to is too busy concentrating on getting to safe ground to be afraid at the time. Maybe later, not usually right then.

I have been trying to find that cartoon car that careens around the corners and I cannot find it anywhere. This is the closest I can come to how Ziggy takes the hairpin turns. He swings out and comes back in like that old red car from possibly Woody Woodpecker. We went on two trails in Orick that had those corners cut into the hill. They are so fun to go on; of course they are not steep canyons like up at Granite Lake. Anyway it's in my head and want to find that car because it makes me laugh when Lynn describes Ziggy's long, tall self taking the curves.

It's 100+ outside, so everyone is inside. Dogs are sleeping and sewing machines are running. Lynn is having much more success than me--my latest project is quite disappointing.

I love summer.