Easy Peasy

Two quick and easy rides this weekend. Nothing really to share except Toby jumped over a dry creek bed because he remembered that it used to be wet and Jupiter had a rock wedged in his shoe that was bigger than a golf ball! Thankfully, Lynn's hands are strong than mine, because I could not move it. At one point she thought she was going to have to run to the trailer and get the trimmer to take his shoe off. It was crazy. On the bright side, Toby came in the big puddle (that is shrinking) and stood by Jupes without a lot of urging. Puddles are getting better, but tiny little creek beds are still scary. 

Saturday was HOT; we rode Underwood backward. I never realize how much we climb until we do it that way. It's a long uphill pull. It was a short ride for us because the horses were sweating at 9:00 and we could tell it was going to be worse later.

Sunday was breezy--breezy enough that we made a tentative plan to only go as far as we were comfortable, but it was less windy on the west side of Hennessey. It was a cool ride and a nice surprise after yesterday. 

I started off my Sunday morning with a treat--Lynn went to get Shirley and I went to get Jupiter in the field. Toby was making Willy squeal and Jupes was down there with him. The other guys were in the upper field. Suddenly, they broke into a full out run. I think Star bit Ziggy and off they went: snorting, farting, and running as fast they could go. Buster went too, rearing up and running. Jupiter and Toby took off. They raced from fence line below the bottom of the pond all the way to the gate separating them from Barry's horses. They whipped around and looked at me. Snorting. I laughed, "Me? You knew I was here!" Then Dusty started running and whipping around and it got them going again. Snorting and schooling in and out of each other. It was a good show.

I walked up to the top gate and closed it with me on the other side. Jupiter ran all out right to me--looking like the wild man the ladies in Oregon dubbed him. By then, Lynn was there and as I held Ziva, who thankfully had gone with her instead of me, she grabbed him and I took him over to tack up. 

That's it! Loving that we get to ride.

Laidback Lenny becomes a Bucking Bronco

This weekend has been so fun and I am very tired! Shirley's black and blue leg drained down into her foot and it is sore to walk on and thinking about putting her foot in the stirrup made her shiver, so she did not ride this weekend. 

Saturday's ride started off with the darn dogs barking at the trail head house. We got ready and walked up to the trail and put the boys in the ditch and got on there. Ziggy immediately set off at a trot up the trail. Not to be left behind, Jupes poured it on, too. We arrived at the top of Hennessey pretty quick!

We went right and a little way down the road, Lynn's lightbulb went on. Yep. I saw it. It was followed with, "I have an idea. . . and. . . I've been thinking about this. . . " Yep. Uh-oh. Jupes quivered at the words. He always tells me, "You know how she is!" So we became the girls from Snowy River and we headed straight down the hill looking for a road Lynn is sure would take us to the trail that leads to the meadow with the puddles. We did traverse our way down without turning around and going back, but never really found a good way to do it. From the meadow, we did our Westside Hoop-de-do trail and on to around our regular trails, but we mostly did them at at trot. Zigs loped at least four times. Jupiter never hit his lope gear, but he is a big time trotter and you know how he loves to run up hill. 

Coming home, we came down our steep trail for the first time this year. It's do-able. Steep and torn up by the motorcycles, but fine. I did see Zigs corkscrewing his head around and thumping down one part, followed by, "I hate when you do that!"

We started somewhere around 7ish and finished the whole loop by 10:30! It was fast and fun.

Sunday, Lynn suggested we do the Eastside Hoop-de-do. I suggested we create a trail to get to the meadow rather than go down that slick, rocky, car-ruined road with roots and runoff crannies. We bushwacked our way--much to Jupiter's irritation. There were lots of skinny branches whipping us and debris everywhere around his legs.

We tried to go across the creek, but it is boggy and overgrown. We need to get off and work on it when it's drier. I thought we did the Hoop-de-do last year, but my oh my, it was really overgrown. We trotted where someone has made a four-wheeler track, but Lynn did a lot a trimming. At some point, Ziggy got wound up and would not stand still. He even backed off the trail into a bit of potential disaster of downed logs and detritus. We powered on, trying to trim as we rode. If we both don't end up with poison oak, I'll be surprised. (Although I scrubbed up with TecNu and my poison oak soap.) At one point, Ziva started growling and barking. I never could really tell what set her off, but I did hear a dog bark in the distance and something that sounded like maybe some construction. This added to the tension level.

Finally, as we looked beyond the mess of branches and stuff on the trail, we decided to give it up and head back. We did not even get to the steep part where Ziggy slid on his butt way back 10 years ago when Lynn first got him. Anyway, I said okay, let me get Jupiter turned around and I swear before the words were completely out of my mouth, he was turned and trotting hard away from her. Everyone was a little spooked!

What I didn't know until Lynn caught up with me was that Ziggy bucked at least twice before she could get his big head up! Big bucks. Air under her seat, bucks. And then he shot out and then ran to catch up with us. I said it was like revving an engine before it pops the clutch and shoots out into the raceway. Thank goodness she rode the bucks like the true cowgirl she is! I was thinking--maybe his legs were caught up in the branches that she had cut down and Jupes took off and he was stuck trying to get his legs free. ? Jupes is not a very good friend when it comes to horse monsters. He knows he is a juicy morsel and no monster in his right mind would be satisfied with just Ziggy's bag of bones!

We rode pretty fast for quite a ways and I was trying to hold Jupes to just a trot. We got to a part of the trail that opened up a little and Lynn said she felt Ziggy relax, so we slowed down to a fast walk. Maybe something was out there. Or something had been there and they could smell it. Anyway, that was it--all the excitement. We did trot some more going on the park side of the meadow and when Lynn was trimming blackberries and wild roses, Jupes licked the mud, but other than that and our traverse back up through brush to the meadow, we called it a ride!

This weekend there was no humming. No singing. Nope. This weekend it was all about hanging on and moving out. Fun!

A bad day ahorseback is still better than any other day

Puddles are not as scary as they once were--he's getting it. 

Every time is a little bit better. I even caught Shirley smiling once.

Look at Toby. He learned about granola bars quickly!

You would think we would all have flat bellies and strong backs, because some trails are a workout!

Some days are tougher than others. I think I learn something new about riding and myself every day. I got surprised today and had my feelings hurt; but I'm not a quitter and I learn fast. I think if I would have had a few more minutes, I would have chosen a direction and we would have been just fine. I love Jupiter and riding too much to not be there. He and I are pretty good partners (I'm not perfect, but we work together). So go ahead and ditch us on the mountain, I'll be ready, but please don't forget to take us with you when you load up to go.

Success!

What a blessed day today has been. We have heard all week that it was going to rain today. Again--another Saturday. We missed last Saturday because of rain! Although the wind blew like crazy yesterday and the temperature dropped substantially, we decided to ride this morning if at all possible. 

This morning it was pretty still and the sky was a mottled cloud cover of white, gray, and pink tinged clouds. There was some blue sky peeking through. But no rain. We loaded up and went up Hennessy. The big puppies were inside the pot fence and we all loaded up and headed out without incident. 

Shirley led most of the way and when we got to the top, Lynn said she had a plan. So we took the middle road and headed down the hill. I was nervous about her plan, but it turned out great. We went down the trail where the bees were in the tree. Toby confidently navigated the "technical" parts of that trail: the tight path under the tree and next to the dry creek bed; the sharp turns around the horizontal tree where the bees were; the huge hole next to the trail; ducking under the low branches--everything. He loped up the hill toward the little creek, jumped it, but everything looked smooth. And then. . . yep! PUDDLES.

Toby managed to jump or skirt the mud and small creeks and puddles until we got to the big meadow. When we dropped down we could see there were BIG puddles. So we splashed around for probably an hour. We got Toby to come into the puddle because he wanted a bite of a granola bar!! LOL. I just held it out a little bit farther than he could reach and he took a step toward it until we were in the middle and then I gave him the treat. He seemed to trust Jupiter, so he followed us around--in and out of puddles. Jupes even started doing a Keota and splashed water everywhere, but he went in and out of puddles with us. 

Lynn got off because we dropped a granola wrapper in the huge puddle and she tightened our cinches, which were hanging. So she was on the ground and Zigs was just standing and watching. When Shirley and I went around the bend to make a circle through several puddles and Lynn walked over to watch us come toward her, Zigs was not happy about being all alone. He was going to follow us, but stepped on his rein. Otherwise, he would have dragged Lynn's reins through all the muddy water. 

It was all good. We also went up to the big puddle we worked on in weekends past. We put him in between us and we all walked in and back through. His flanks still tremble, but both horse and rider and starting to trust each other. Yaay!

Back to the weather: we wore our chinks, thank goodness; Lynn was in and out of vest, jacket, jacket, vest; both Shirley and I wore gloves and my cheeks were cold. It was pretty crisp on the back side and the clouds started piling up and becoming a solid sky. The wind started coming down the trees as we headed back to the trailer. We could hear the storm rolling in. 

We couldn't have timed it more perfectly; as we pulled over to let cars go by at Lynn's there were sprinkles on the windshield. We put the horses up and as I pulled out of the driveway, I had to turn on my windshield wipers. It has been breezy all day with sun coming in and out of showers. We were truly blessed today.