An Early Sunday Morning

 

Saturday was my brother's memorial, so I dropped off Ziva at Lynn's for a haircut and time to play with KD. We didn't get to ride on what turned out to be a really pretty and perfect temperature type of day. However, we got up early and headed up Underwood on Sunday. (My niece said, "we saw your car at Lynn's at 7:30!!" A 14-year-old amazed that we were already out and about at 6:00ish. lol)

It was our first day up there and we were excited to see if the big snag was still standing. It was definitely a bushwacking kind of day! Trees, limbs, and general messy trails awaited us--always fun!! And drumroll. . . . the snag was still standing up. It is buckling in the middle, so it's getting closer to laying its tired, old body down. There were flowers everywhere; even some that neither of remember ever seeing. The misty morning had fog sitting on the ridge and in the valley beyond our cliff. 

The flowers were amazing. I don't know if I have ever seen so many and so unique. It was the coolest.

Lynn rode Ziggy and both he and the fat boy were sweating climbing those hills. We worked on taking trails down to cut off more of the road riding. Ziggy twirled a baton between his back legs that had Jupiter pulling up to watch so he didn't get in the chest by the big limb. Lynn did some big logging while I sat and watched, then we made a bushy trail on down to the bottom road. When we came out of the bushes, I reminded Lynn that this was where Jupes through his big fit last year. So far so good--sixth ride and no fits yet. He's behaving like the mature horse of 18 he is supposed to be.

Ziva and Kate had a fun day and both are obviously getting into good shape for longer summer rides. 

Still standing strong.

Long Ride

 First hot day of the year--93 predicted and 93 it is. That said, of course we went out early. I was a little late (so what's new?) but we headed out by 6:45. We got to our turnout trailhead and Lynn woke up the pot heads with the panic button on the truck and neither of us know how to turn it off quickly. Poor Katie was howling. We're here! :)

Ziggy is losing shoe, so he didn't get to go on what would've been his turn. Cobie is getting to be so good. Lynn mounts easily now anywhere. Water wasn't a huge issue either. She did make him go through some extra puddles and redo a couple creek crossings. One of them was on the hoop-de-do trail over past the meadow on the west side of Hennessey; Kate thought it was something fun to do so as Lynn was talking to Cobie about stepping down and walking through it, she sailed to the moon over it. Not a good role model! 

We rode down toward Heidi's house on our trail so we could come up Cobweb Alley. Both of us knew we would probably need to do some logging. Yep. It was really something. I got smacked and poked and even had a looooong twig go up my nose!! Sheesh. But we cleared it. 

Today was our 5th ride--I don't want to jinx myself but, so far, no trouble from Jupiter. In fact, I have been amazed at how good he is at siding up so I can get on. I love that. He is such a good boy when he wants to be.

We also have taken some road riding off our trail. We have started using part of an old trail where a tree fell and made it difficult to get around. It's a little steep for the how heavy Jupes is right now, but it will help him to burn some calories. :) We're not sure about riding tomorrow--but today was really fun. Again there were tons of flowers everywhere. All kinds. All colors. But the one below was the most eye catching. 

Trillium Days

 

Even if the weather doesn't know it, it's spring! And life is good! Today was our fourth ride, but it almost didn't happen. Predicted to rain today, we were like iffy on going. Then the sun came out and gave us false hope and away we went. lol. Lynn said she's fine with it raining while we're riding, but it's no fun starting out that way and saddling up in it. That's how you get your butt wet! We both are once again singing our praises of our chinks.

It was a cold day on the Hennessey and spitting hail and rain with occasional wind to boot, but it was such a good day. Both Cobie and Jupiter were well behaved and plowed through the running water and handled the changing weather like old hands. Both of them are happy and fat, but still glad to get off the place and go for a ride. 

Flowers are everywhere--especially Trilliums. I don't know if I have ever seen so many. Everything is blooming and the dark skies seemed to make all the colors pop. So even though it rained occasionally on us, we enjoyed our ride. We even explored some, but we are taking it easy and getting our fat boys in shape slowly. They have been on grass for a week and definitely gained some LBs. :) 

Katie got too far away from us today and came high-tailing it back, tongue just hanging. Cobie thought there was a boogey man out there, so maybe Katie went trailing after it. Anyway, twice she got too far away and kind of scared me some.

Last week Katie jumped up a grouse on Saturday and then on Sunday, we met Opie with a 22 lb. turkey he had just shot down on the ranch. Both girls really sniffed it. Cobie walked straight at Opie without even noticing the creek he walked through, but Jupes had his head high and kept stopping to look at him. I said, "It's just Opie." Jupes said, "I don't know what an Opie is!!" Silly boy.

So far so good--Jupes has made it through four rides without a tantrum (yay!) and Cobie is standing and letting Lynn get on as well as walking through water. All is well with our world.

Supposed to pour down rain tomorrow. . . .

First Day!

 Yaaay! The boys got shoes on Thursday and today we rode up the Hennessy. There was water running down all the trails. There weren't very many wildflowers showing their heads, yet. It was obvious that the motorcycle riders have been up before us and lots of limbs were trimmed on the trail. There were trees that had come down and had been sawed on the road. But overall, our east side trail was good. 

Lynn rode Ziggy today. We have not been ahorseback since November!! It's the longest we have ever not ridden!! Anyway, she wanted to get her legs under her and knew that Zigs would take good care of her. T/C stayed home in the corral/pen and ate grass. He was happy to see us, but Lee didn't tell us that Cobie had been crazy or anything. 

Ziggy was his normal easy going self. Jupiter did really good going up; he had to stop and catch his breath a few times--both he and I are overweight and out of shape. We only went to the top and then headed back down. I was pleased that Jupes was ready to keep going, but once I turned him toward home, it was on. We trotted the whole way. He put his head down and pulled against the reins and said, "let's go!" And I cannot make him walk. Dang it. The good thing was that when I turned him up the hill instead of toward the truck, he kept on trotting. He was willing to keep going, so that made me happy. 

Ziva and Katie had a great time and Ziva is stretched out asleep as I type. Lynn has tons of chores to do, so K.D. will not be sleeping for a few more hours.  

Although it is hazy, the sun is shining and it's 77 degrees. I love it. I am looking forward to next weekend already.

Best way to spend half an hour

This is Lynn's every afternoon. We should all be so lucky! Love this.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride with Katie 

(Lynn, you're not really Mr. Toad, but the title was too perfect.)

Mt Shasta Weekend

 

Ever since Lynn said Cathy and her friends go to McCloud to camp with their horses, I have been excited. The weekend finally arrived! Well, it wasn't camping, but it was awesome. We stayed at Cathy's house, which was super comfortable and warm and beyond hospitable--camping would have been cold and much less comfortable!! We met her friend and mentor, Karrie Ann, and Roany her favorite mount.

On Friday, we loaded Roany up with us and we went to Lake Siskiyou. We rode around the lake and our boys were able to relax their travel legs. Both of them did really well and got along with Roany. We took them back to Karrie's place and got them settled into their respective corrals with a covered eating area. Of course Jupes had to touch everyone and so there was some squealing and ruckus, but he settled down and they both had a good night. Karrie was awesome; she checked on them and sent us an update and fed them their breakfast. We really appreciated being able to safely house our boys.

Saturday was our big day. Karrie and her other friend, Maria, took us up to Gumboot Trailhead. Unfortunately, Maria's horse fell in the trailer and had some scrapes. She wasn't comfortable bringing him on the trail, so she went home. We went on without her. What a day! It snowed, the wind blew, but the views were awesome!! Jupes and I rode in the back and I was so proud of how he did. He was perfect. Ziggy was super good as well and it was a fantastic outing. 

We were bundled up.

The trails were nice (PCT) and the climb to 8000 feet at the top was pretty easy. However, we did some trotting coming out and I had a wardrobe malfunction; my pant leg crept up and got caught on the boot strap and I couldn't get it to go down. Of course Jupes thought he needed snacks coming out, so I tried to do it while he was eating, but I didn't know it was caught (I had my chinks on of course!). I almost went over his head trying to fix it. Finally I figured it out and was able to unhook it and pull it down--it was too cold to wear my pants like Shirley, lol, and it hurt, too. Silly, I know.

Back at the ranch, Jupiter saw the goats for the first time. LOL. He was discombobulated to say the least. The riffraff was just next door. :) We helped with rounding up the ponies, fed some of the animals, and enjoyed the chickens. What a great place.

This is Porcupine Lake. There is another lake called Toad Lake that is a little farther on. Karrie says it is better for horse camping because there is grass. It sounds like a possible adventure for a warmer weekend.

As I said, it snowed on us. It was cold that night and Zigs was shivering when we got to Karrie's for a possible ride Sunday morning. We decided that we had had fun and should probably load up and take them home. Then Zigs lost his brain and would not load. He was too cold to think. Poor baby. Eventually we put Jupes in front and then he loaded up to be with his partner. 

It was a fun weekend. Cathy and Lonnie went out scouting for trails for us for the next time. I can hardly wait.

Shoot. . . . I've been slacking off!

 

Dang--I didn't realize that I had not sat down and written about our adventures since August. We went to Alisa's for her birthday and great rides. We went to Deer Lake one day and tootled around down the highway one day. We found a watermelon and the horses loved it. 

We have ridden up Hennessey at least three times and the growth that T/C continues to show is awesome. We have separated a couple times and ridden solo. Jupiter baulked and wouldn't walk away, so I had to lead for a bit, but T/C did fine. Today he went through the boggy mud at the bottom of the trail without hesitation and went right across the wide creek bed, too. 

It's hunting season, so we have all worn our turquoise shirts and the hunting jackets Lynn made for the girls. We haven't seen anyone and both horses have been calm. Last week, Lynn took pictures of a huge hornets' nest. I told her today, we are not going to go over and look at it this week--and then we couldn't see it after all--which makes me nervous; that means they are loose and flying around. Dead would be better.

We rode an old trail that we used to ride with Brady. I think Jupiter has only been on it once, maybe twice. We came to a huge tree across the road and had to boonie jump around it, but it was a fun trail to ride. It is more road riding that we usually do, but it was fun nevertheless.

Future Rides:  We plan to ride into Bear Basin this coming Wednesday. I hope we see Golden Eagles again. We have a McCloud trip planned the following week and we talked about going to Weaverville before it rains. It is so pretty when leaves turn. I said we need to do the hoop-de-do trail before the end of our riding season, too. (Or maybe not. . . ? Last time was not good.) I would like to ride as long as we can, but I told Lynn that if is pouring rain on my birthday, I would be just as happy.  

I am praying we find a farrier we like soon. Jupiter's shoes are on the back of his feet and today he tripped a little. Dang that woman.