spooks and bucks

Karen called while I was at work and asked if I wanted to go for a ride that evening. I was game and arrived in Stanley at 5:30 pm.
Sam, Karen's daughter came out to say hi and to see if I needed help with Falcon-NOT He is a good boy about loading and unloading.

Karen had just arrived home from work and wasn't ready to ride, so Falcon munched on grass for a spell. Sam brought her mother a glass of wine and the two of them walked off to the barn to get Slick ready.

Two glasses of wine later, Karen was trying to mount Slick, who doesnt stand still and they twirl around in circles until finally Sam grabbed a hold on him and Karen was on and we were off down the road at a walk.

There was a crossroad 0.5 mile away and when we reached that area there road turned to gravel and stated that the state road ended 1.0 mile.

Karen warned, "ok, we are going to trot ok? the whole mile ok? are you ready?" Slick was still walking, Falcon KNOW's what the word "TROT" means and he took off and we soon left them in the dust.

I don't know what Karen was thinking. She must think that I don't ride much, when in reality I ride much more AND longer than she does. Ok, musta been the wine talking!

Falcon was like a wet noodle going down the road. Spooking at every rock and black stump, sign and fence. I gave him stiff nudges with my heels and kept him going at his fast trot.

Karen then hollered, "THERE IS A STALLION at the the end of this road" A Stallion was an understatement.
The residence at the end of the road had JUNK, JUNK, and MORE JUNK on BOTH sides of the road.
The Stallion was hollering on one side and running up and down the sagging fence line.

On the other side of the road the Donkeys brayed and trotted up their sagging fence line, all three animals were dodging rusting trailers and farm equipment.

The Stallion is 29 and a GORGEOUS gray arabian. Falcon wanted to visit and slowed down despite my prompting to keep him moving. Slick and Karen moved ahead and Falcon soon followed.

From there we were on a fire road up the mountain. We went about halfway up (maybe another half of a mile) and Karen decided that Slick was tired (uhhhhmmm not! Karen was tired!)

So we turned around and came back down, back through the rusted animal gauntlet towards Karens place. But then she gained her second wind and took me on another gravel road in her subdivision.

It was a gradual climb up a long hill and Slick took off at a canter (yeah he was tired! haha!) Falcon bunched up and Buck, Buck Bucked! What in the heck???? Took me by surprise. I yanked his head up and yelled. After that we trotted to the top and I hopped off and readjusted his girth. I think the saddle had slipped back and he is sensitive to THAT! grrrr.

Then we faced another hill and this time, Falcon was a good boy and did a nice canter, but then acted up again and attempted to rear a little and buck some more.
We were in a FLOCK of big deer flies and they were really messing with him. No amount of shaking and tossing got rid of them, so we took off cantering for the horse trailer and thankfully arrived unscathed.

Sam met Karen with another glass of wine, while I unsaddled and loaded Falcon and took off for home.