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!