Mustang Saga

Our ride went well today, although we both wished it was longer. There was another loop of trail we could have explored! It killed me to head back instead, but I had time constraints - John's mom was watching the kids and probably impatiently waiting for us.

Here is the cabin I mentioned in my last post. Not easy to photograph with the fence around it.

The beginning part of our trail had a lot of branches right in our faces, and Tonka was nervous so he was trying to rush, which made it not much fun for a while. Eventually we got into forest with less thick growth and it was like a breath of fresh air, not having to dodge branches.

This is what a lot of the trail was like - cedar forest. I think it's kind of neat how barren it is, other than the big trees, but Tonka doesn't like cedar forest. He gets worried. Maybe sounds carry strangely in there.
I had to share this great picture of Melissa and Rosie, and of course our loyal dogs.

In all we did 5 miles today over 2 hours. Which doesn't seem right because we were gone for about 6 hours... I'm confused. We can't possibly spend that much time tacking up and talking, can we?

I was hoping to find a good trail with views of the Palouse for some friends who want to come riding, but this one didn't have any views. Maybe next week... We figure if the north side of this loop doesn't have views we'll go to the west side of the park since it's supposed to be less treed.

Next, I thought I might take a moment to re-introduce my herd. I know I sometimes get confused on blogs where there are a lot of horses. And of course 4 of ours are pretty similarly colored, so that doesn't help.

Here are Bella and Scout, with a slice of Soxy in between. Bella is on the left, and she's Scout's mom. She's 6 and he's 3. She was bred in the wild and had Scout 6 months after I adopted her. He was born into my lap. They are mustangs from Black Mountain HMA in Southern Idaho.

Here's good old Soxy, our appaloosa mare. She's a spotted sweetie. She's 25 years old this year. She boosted my confidence after years of owning untrained horses I didn't have the experience to ride. Now my kids (and a bunch of other kids) ride her. I wish she could still take me down the trail.

Fat Cisco (below), with Tonka peeking from behind. Cisco is a Stone Cabin mustang from Nevada. He was rounded up as a 2 year old and we bought him when he was 12. He's 15 now. You can have him if you want him. (Just kidding. Or maybe not.) He's an experienced pack and trail horse but sometimes gets weird ideas about where he wants to go. He's so darn sweet in the pasture you'd never know he could be a pain in the butt. He loves to cuddle.

Of course you all know Tonka, so I don't have to put up another picture of him, right?

Grace wouldn't take her head out of the grass to get her picture taken. She's our newly adopted mustang, 3 years old, from Adobe Town HMA in Nevada. She's a grey horse, so eventually she'll be white. John loves her, and she loves John. She's graduated to living in a big pasture. Soon I'll put Soxy out with her and she'll be happy to have a friend. She runs the fence whenever all the other horses go out of sight, and she's running weight off so she doesn't look near as pretty as when we got her. Soon we need to work on getting her used to having her feet handled. She's due for a trim.

Oh! I have to share! I am so excited! I put down my demo deposit on my EZ Fit saddle today. He'll send it out this week. If I like this particular saddle I can keep it at a reduced cost since it's not brand new. Or I can send it back and order one specially made just how I want it. This one sounds like I will like the color (chocolate), which was my big concern (no black, pink, turquoise, or weird mixes of color for me) so I hope it works out. I cannot wait to ride in it! I've read so much good about them. But if I hate it all I'm out is the shipping. Nice.