Swack! Smack! Pow!

Humility is a good thing, too bad my horse does not know that. Feeling a little over confident and left behind we had just crossed the first bridge and were headed up the first steep switchback hill when as we were making the last surge to the top and flat ground a head down we went on his chest. The surge of power to right the horse was huge and he cold cocked me on my eye and cheek. The helmet took the initial hit and the force broke the visor into two pieces right down the middle and to the left. It's toast! No black eye yet but man I am tender around the edges and my throat is sore from the strap. I am a true convert and believer.... Wear a quality helmet when you ride! Of course in the family hall of shame hubby is still the leader with his crash in June. Horse landing on you trumps a thump in the face. Rocket was rightly contrite after that and we kept to a slower pace. Our little troop could really swap crash stories and laughter is the best medicine. Jr. horse was just a charmer today. Just content to keep with the pace. The Appy of the group is such a goer. Funny moment today was at the little creek, her rider had to get off for min and she wanted water gosh darn it! The water trough was dry and before we knew it she walked in between the horses and right down into the water. Since it was her second time out that day I could hardly blame her.

Watch out for that tree!

The best therapy for barn drama is to RIDE! Got the hell out of the parking lot and Boy, did we RIDE. Our small group of 4 with one young gun in tow. We blazed a few trails and set a good pace to blow out some cobwebs and work off a little mental steam. For some strange reason my big grey beast really worried one very nice looking Warmblood we kept crossing paths with. Dancing on their horses part was cause for a commotion moment for my horse. The young’n of the pack kept finding it great fun to kick up his heels whenever we climbed a hill worthy of a little effort on the horses part. So that was a lively crash and thunder from behind. Poor Rocket just knew something back there was reason enough and was on high alert, ready at any moment to make the grand escape in case I wasn’t watching. We were trotting along (I forget his trot makes everybody else canter) at a good pace on the way back to home base when I guess someone did not communicate to the youngster he should have followed the horse leading him and the leader went to right of a tree and he went left. This caused a parting of the ways and all I could hear amongst the great commotion was "It’s OK," "Whoa!" As I turned the Rocket to face the horse monster we got buzzed by a loose Jr. horse. Rocket and I did a lovely Piaffe in place and Jr. stopped about 15 feet away. Heart rates back to normal, gather up the escapee. I thought WE (Rocket & Centara) were going to take a break at the edge of the field while “others” ran around…before I knew it Centara was off at a nice canter and poor Rocket was feeling left out. So, off we went to follow. He was okay as long as he could see her in the distance and we did nice collected work while following. He really did need to rest some.. as we took a shortcut through the middle of the field he was so funny when the cantering horses crossed the opening ….there they are! All in all we had a great time and it was great therapy.

Lights Out!

This old gal is tired! Part #2 of the busy weekend exhausted me. Big event of the day was the barn BBQ so we wanted to ride first and take advantage of the beautiful day. No Indian Summer just yet. It was hot and felt like summer was still trying to hold on with both hands. Of course many other people were thinking the same things so the 4h kids were saddling up and hitting the trails along with countless other strangers. It is days like this that is amazes one that there can be an easy 30 horses in the Park and you don't run into them at every corner. Also makes you ponder why on some days you can't shake some folks. All 3 horses were out today and in a fine whinny of a mood. Calling each other & wanting to run off at a moments notice. Most days they act like siblings that don't want to be caught in the same room. I have no idea what brought on this bought of togetherness. I really thought yesterday would have made them tired and today would have been a nice quiet walk in the Park literally. We managed to finish up in time for the BBQ. Shucking corn, swapping stories and just a nice day under the trees with friends that share the common bond of horse ownership and letting the guys stand around open flame and cook.

Oh my aching....

The promise of a nice weekend was just too much. We hit the trail fairly early, the horses were in fine form. After going around the berry field for our warm up we headed in and at the log crossing someone(trail biker)had remodeled the area and banked both sides of the log. I guess they get tired carrying their bike over the log. My horse can step over the log. They should too in my humble opinion. Gotta share? Share nice. I managed to get Rocket over a spot in the under brush but he was not thrilled. The other end is just too high off the ground, it would require jump and that is not safe in that location. As I got over we met friends riding their Icelandic horses and they just could not make it so we removed the stuff banking the log. Back in business we were off passing with a friendly hello. It was beautiful, quiet except for the birds that were busy chattering. I have no idea how long we were riding when we met up with another set of barn friends and joined their group. Found more spots were more trail modifications were done by cutting down smaller trees. Passed quite a few other riders. One group in particular put on a show when unloading their horses. The back horse just could not find the reverse gear and they were pulling on it's tail, picking up it's feet and who knows what else. We stopped to watch in case there was a huge horse explosion. The horse finally came bursting out with a scream. Then on to number 2... why oh why.. they let the confused horse turn around from the slant load stall to walk out head first. That was not a pretty sight. The poor thing looked like a pretzel. They thought the whole thing was so funny, laughing. Why can't people practice loading and unloading at home and make it safer for everyone?????? Well we finally decided we had had more than enough :) and when I checked my watch, oh my gosh! 4.5 hours had gone by. NO WONDER my a#! is so sore this morning! OK, almost time for day #2... stay tuned. I may only make it around the field before crying uncle.

Rain, rain go away .. Summer's gotta stay

It was a beautiful morning, sun shining and thinking WOW, what a way to celebrate the end of summer. Last trail ride of August. Grabbed coffee and out the door. Saddled up and as we were heading out it started. Yep, rain. Good old fashioned wet stuff. Made a dash for the trees to get some cover and wait for friends. Sometime since yesterdays ride a tree fell across the trail. The way the horses eyeballed it you would of thought someone moved the furniture. Gave it a good long look, sniffed it and gingerly stepped over it. Guess that's the long term memory I was recently reading about :) Turns out it rained off and on so we never really got soaked just damp around the edges. Passed a few other hardy souls out catching the last moments of summer in the saddle. Rocket is my trusty trail alarm. If he says WHOA and won't go forward I had better listen cause there are folks a head blocking the way :) his hearing is great and he alerts me to them long before we can see them. The coyote from last week was at the meadow and we caught a glimpse of him and as we came out of the trail into a small meadow by the barn there was a young spotted fawn. He was so scared of us. We tried to give him time to find mama but the little guy just ran like a rabbit in front of us.. Finally got him to jump into the trees and scare the Rocket when he jumped into the air like a jack rabbit :) Okay, okay summer can be over but hey now it's time for a great NW Indian Summer

Excuse me, pardon me...

Was everybody out today? We hit the mother load on "other people" today. The parking lot was empty so we figured cool, we have the park to ourselves. Well think again. Just no horse people were there. Mountain bikers, walkers. joggers and to cap it off boys playing army! Hidden in the trees, faces covered and wearing camo. We got in the middle of their fun. They were very nice about it but we did explain that to a horse they resembled a bear or sasquatch/big foot.

The apples in the meadow were great and the horses were quite pleased to snag a few. :) Just to mix it up we went down some trials we usually go up. Rocket had to really pay attention in some places and pick his way down. Too many roots that created steep steps and the like. Yesterdays ride was an evening one, no excitement but one of my favorite summer sounds was heading back to the barn at dusk and hearing the crickets chirp. Now if I only had fireflies...

History assignment

When I was 16 and riding the same trails I ride now there was a little deer track that wound around a fence and through the brush. You could not get in too far and you knew you had crossed onto someones farm.. in the short distance was the most charming thing ... an old mill. Time was doing it's job to help decay the wood but the wheel was still there and you could hear the water. Just a special place in the woods.

Fast forward to now.... the land has been given to the park and I can now ride right up to it and really look. How cool is that??? The wood frame is gone but the stone walls are there and the wheel is mostly in one piece and you can still hear the water. Well, I have given myself a mission. I want to research it's history and share it here. As I find out I will update the blog :) I googled it and no luck. I am going to have to make the Rocket march right up the small path and get a picture of the brass plaque on the wall and start my search there with the only fact I know of. Wish me luck!