Saturday Ride

Today was absolutely BEAUTIFLY. Clear, breezy, little humidity. A WONDERFUL day for a ride...but alas, Karen couldnt go with me, so I rang up Peggy and she was willing, but had to finish up some chores at home first.

Around noon, I got Falcon and Red brushed and fly sprayed and even took time to comb their ratty manes today. Poor Dakota is really getting neglected these days. Maybe I will take him for a spin tomorrow.

Peggy arrived as I was saddling the horses. So, after minor adjustments to the stirrups, we were mounted and heading down the trail.

When we reached the small hill, I asked Peg if she wanted to move out. She said she was ready. Falcon started cantering and Red started BUCKING BUCKING BUCKING....oh my goodness.

Peg was hollering and fearful since she rarely rides and has already broken her tailbone when an "X" horse of hers dumped her off.

I slowed Falcon and Red stopped bucking. Peg was quite shaken, but said to "go on".

Ok Shana-first warning....Red likes to give a buck or two, so be ready!

From there we walked to Ruths, where Red had to PEE!

Ok Shana-second warning-Red likes to stop and pee alot!

Up Piney Moutain we went, trotting and cantering and Red did not buck anymore. We made our way to the radio tower. Hopped off, had our water and proceeded to walk down the loose shale on the east side.

Then we turned right because I wanted to canter up the sandy road to get the horses butts in shape a little. We tried, but the rain had washed out the road, so we didn't go as fast as I wanted to. So back down we went over to Valleyburg Road then on to Summers Road.

The horse were lazy and there was a nice breeze, so we sauntered along at an easy pace of about 2.8 miles an hour. We alternated that with some trotting until we reached the old church and cut through the Moyers pasture.

Peg was not too impressed with this part of the ride, especially when we turned back on to the mountain trail. I was hoping to find another 4-wheeler short cut home but all of them ended up being too steep and we did a lot of back tracking since Peg was wearing some mules that WEREN'T made for walking.

Back to the Moyers pasture. As we started up the hill, far off in the distance, a HUGE piece of equipment barreled in our direction and dumped some stumps on a big pile.

Now this equip. was at a good distance, but it freaked Falcon out and he tore up that steep hillside. Red followed suit and both of them were trying to be "RUNAWAYS"!

Peggy got really scared and was saying..."OHHHHHHHHHHH, OHHHHHHHHH!"
We reached the top and the boys settled down. Peg wanted to get off, but I told her not to since the grass was tall and it would be hard to walk in.

She was NOT very happy after that occurance and just wanted to get home...Well, from there, we were less than a mile from home since I decided to cut through the neighbors property.

I heard Dakota hollering and told Peg to take a deep breath, relax and get a good hold on Red in case Dakota came tearing through the woods. Dakota came fast, but I kept Falcon under control and we made it back to the barn at a walk.

Both of us were very stiff when we got off. The ride had been too slow for one thing, plus stressful for me worrying about Peg and stressful for Peg to have that tough of a ride.

7.53 miles in all we had gone. We had been out for 2 hours, but total time stopped was 50 min, so actual moving time was an hour and ten min. Really, not too bad I suppose.

I will have to do speed work alone or when I am riding with Karen or Betsy...but it was good LSD conditioning with all of the hills that we had to maneuver. Also, Red is getting better about paying attention to those ROCKS, ROCKS, ROCKS!

The horses enjoyed their hosing and bucket of grain with electrolytes. As soon as Falcon was done eating, he nickered for his treats. He is such a SWEET boy.

It was 4 pm by the time we got to the house and Peg was a nervous wreck, because she thought her husband would be mad at her, but it turned out that he was still at work, so all was well....hhhhhhhhmmmmm, wonder if she will EVER ride with me again!