Mustang Saga

After much argument with my boy, we went on a little hike today.  He doesn't like to hike.  We've taken him too far too many times.  But when he saw how awesome it was where we were at, he was far out in front, excitedly leading the way.

Winston was having a great time:

These are Huckleberry's really, really happy eyes:

Blue was kamikaze puppy, as usual:

We discovered some mining claims.  Weird.  I want a mining claim.  I'd build a little hut and live there all summer. But I think I'd probably actually have to put some work into it.

This is what Huckleberry does when we come upon water.  Or mud.  Anything damp will do.

Ladybugs again!

I LOVE this next picture.  I was just taking a pic of the weird avenue through the trees, that isn't the trail (the trail goes along right next to it).  Blue heard a chipmunk and photobombed my picture, standing still just long enough to get this clear shot.  I think it's probably the best picture of Blue I've ever taken.  A happy accident.

I took a break to lay back and stare at the sky.  I was feeling dizzy and a little rest helped.

This is that dang well Blue fell into.  Nobody has done anything about it, so we piled lots and lots of branches over it.  I don't think anyone could accidentally fall in.

On our way out of there we decided to drive up another road to see what we found.  Eventually we found it was blocked by a couple guys cutting firewood, so we headed back.  About halfway down the mountain I suddenly had no power when I pushed on the gas pedal.  Looking down at my instrument panel, it looked like I was out of diesel.  But I shouldn't have been, and it wasn't doing that lurchy thing they do when you run out of gas.  It was just idling smoothly along, slow as a turtle.  We realized none of my instruments were reading right, and the radio was doing weird things too.  We did some troubleshooting, checked some fuses and reset the computer, didn't find the problem, and eventually Katia and John were able to push us up the last uphill bit so we could coast back down the mountain.  We parked at the bottom, easier to find if we had to call someone to rescue us.  I explored a very cool area while John went through each and every fuse and finally found the problem.  Starter fuse, which is strange, because it was starting just fine.  I can't tell you how good it felt to push on the gas pedal and move forward with some power.  By that point I was really hungry!

 This evening after dinner I went to get my Joseph.  He came moseying over.  I can't tell you how big that is.  It's a first.  He normally makes me go get him.

He helped me water the garden, then we headed to the round pen.  He was incredibly relaxed.  I bridled him and slipped his halter off from underneath, which he thought was weird.  But he's already quiet with the bit in his mouth, and this is only the third time.

I went back to the garden and left him to his own devices for a few minutes, then gathered a saddle and went back.

It was getting too dark for good picture taking.

Everything was quiet and uneventful.

After walking around, and some practice giving to the bit,  I unsaddled him and asked him to step up to the mounting block.  This time he'd position himself almost perfectly, but just a little too far away.  He was obviously bothered and worrying about doing the wrong thing, so I got his halter and helped him.  He did it perfectly, although with a lot of tension.  I loved on him on both sides, scratching him all over, rubbing my legs on him, hanging over him, giving treats.  Then I did some stretches and twists with my arms out, moving them over his head and his whole body.  He never once moved his feet.  When I asked him to move his feet he was worried and over-reactive (nothing big) so he wasn't as relaxed as he looked.

Lightning was flashing around us with increasing intensity.  When it started to lightly rain I decided to call it a night.  I still had to put away two saddles and all the other gear, plus bring Pedro in and feed everyone their supplements.  I got to do a lot of walking in the warm rain, and it was good.  :)