Another ride through the gauntlet

Back to Karens tonight. Sam wasn't home and so Karen had to fix her own wine. I had Falcon saddled up in a jiffy because we were starting much later tonight. Not so with Karen. Grrr, I like her, but this is driving me crazy. Too much wine going on.

I waited for 45 min for her to saddle up and eventually get on Slick. Same ride this time as last only it was hotter with more humidity. The horses were poking along, not interested at all in stepping out.

No wet noodling from Falcon tonight. He had "been there and done that" two nights ago. But the Stallion caused excitement for a few min. and then we were on the mountain trail again.

This time we decided to keep going. The trail was one track with lots of briars and thorny trees along the way. Karen and SLick were in the lead as the path became steeper and rockeier.

Halfway up to the top, Karen stopped, trying to decide whether to turn around or keep going. I yelled, "I dont know, make up YOUR MIND, Im sliding off Falcons back!"
I nudged Falcon and he charged past Slick. I grabbed a branch to prevent it from smacking me in the face-it turned out to have thorns that drove into my hand and stuck there. OUCH!

We reached the top and found that the trail continued to worsen. I hopped off and led Falcon as we started down the other side. It was a great relief when we reached a large level,grassy area. This is where we had started initially and had come full circle.

I hopped off to fix my stirrup because my leg was cramping. Karen had a "smoke" which actually is great for keeping the knats away, while the horses munched grass.

Then darn, my cushion in my stirrup had come unglued! It just wouldnt stick, so I stuck in in my saddle bag and hiked the stirrup up two notches to match my other one with the pad.

The ride down was a pain, with my foot that kept sticking to the remaining glue that wasnt enough to hold the pad but enough to throw my balance off.

Back through the gauntlet, where we stopped to talk to the Stallion's owner. A nice man, but a definite junk collector.
This time we just head to the trailer since it was almost dark. I was glad to be home and decided that I am not making much conditioning progress riding with Karen.