Ass backwards, and Love at First Sight

After feeding supplements yesterday I needed to clean out the trailer. Juniper wanted attention so I brought her along. We practiced trailer loading. She's only hauled loose or in the last stall of the trailer, never between dividers. Understandably, she isn't comfortable with being wedged up into the front corner. But she would stand there backwards. So I shut the divider and praised her to high heaven while she stood there, very uncomfortable with the whole situation.

I kept it short and sweet and then let her out. I call it a win if she doesn't get so worried she poops, and she didn't. :)

We ended up going on a llloooonnng ride yesterday. Nine miles up toward Prospect Peak out by Gold Hill. It's a really nice ride. We walked over a third of it to give the horses a break.

While we were riding I was wondering, Why did I feel safe with Sawyer right off the bat when I met him? (This is the love at first sight portion of the post.) Like when you meet some people, you just click with them right away and want to be around them more. Why? I've had one theory, that time isn't linear, and that we recognise people we know, before we know them. Also, I believe in reincarnation and knowing people from other lifetimes. But then there's the scientific theory, that our subconscious mind picks up on cues our conscious mind does not. I certainly had enough time to observe Sawyer being brought in and tacked up, to form a subconscious opinion. I climbed on him in less than ideal tack without even asking the owner to ride him first.

Whatever the reason I liked him then, I'm glad I found him. I only wish I'd found him several years sooner so I could love him longer.

Scout and John are sure making a good team too. I like riding with my husband. We both like to explore. I never have to worry that I'm taking him too far or into too hairy of a situation. He's always game for whatever I am. 

Actually I was the one who had to call it yesterday and say it was time to turn back. My old man horse was tired. We were exploring this nice grassy road that had a cool breeze blowing up out of the cedars. I half expected a wolf to trot by any minute, it was so quiet out there.

We dismounted and walked the last 3 miles. I think the horses appreciated it. My butt didn't mind either. :)

They are very good boys. They get the next few days off, for sure.

Lovely, lovely

We have been having all the fun lately. Lovely weather. Sunshine, but lots of thunderstorms and rain too. Not our normal springtime weather but still mostly quite nice. And I do love a good storm.

Juniper went for her first hike out on the trail. I chose a spot with easy, open trails where I don't usually see anyone or hear any guns or anything. This time though, a family was walking by on the county road below us, with really loud kids, and Juniper was sure they were following us and definitely going to eat us up.

We saw a porcupine waddling into the brush. Super cute! After that she started to relax a bit. Up on top we saw some deer run off. I tried to get a good pic with the wildflowers.  She was still watching for deer.

Toward the end of the hike she started to relax and get more curious about her surroundings, smelling things and occasionally tasting them. That made me happy. I was afraid she wasn't going to come down off high alert.  I really should have brought another equine along. But I didn't have another person available.

The next day I decided to try Scout out with a new rider. Heather from work has been riding all her life but not exactly a horseman. I was pretty sure it would go well or I wouldn't have tried it of course. I figured if he was too naughty we could turn it into a hike. He was perfect! 

We rode to the top of a little mountain and back, and as we were unsaddling we heard wolves howling in the distance! How cool is that!

I finally got my friend Cindee out on the trail again. She rode her good horse, Trixie. When she told me she hasn't done anything at all with her this spring I was a little unsure what to expect, but Trixie was a good girl. If ever I was looking for a Morgan horse, I'd want one with her breeding.

We rode along the Palouse river on the Colfax trail. It's beautiful. There are stretches with pine trees, and I love the rocks covered with swallow's nests.

The river is right on the other side of the trail, running deep and muddy right now.

We rode up above for a view of the river. Sawyer just looked and looked. It was really cute.

Heather and I did another after work ride on Friday. We had a couple of minor mishaps that could have been worse.  Scout's saddle rolled as she was mounting up and she ended up going thud on the ground practically underneath him. I was picturing shod hooves jumping away and hurting her, but no, he just stood there like this sort of thing happens every day. No concern at all. Like, not even curiosity. It was kinda funny. Luckily she landed in soft forest duff and just got back on.

Huckleberry got to go with us. He was soooo happy!

On the way back we went through a ditch/hump combo meant to keep trucks out, and Scout must have tried to jump the ditch, landed on his knees on the hump, and gave Heather quite the ride. What a dork.

Yesterday I got to ride with my husband! Imagine that. We went way into the deep, dark woods. Normally we don't see anyone out there but since it's memorial day weekend we saw 3-4 groups on atv's. They were all really respectful, and there was plenty of room to get off the trail before they came around the corner.

 We didn't make it as far as we wanted to. The trails were so greasy and slick it was a bit scary sometimes. These shoes are nowhere near as good as barefoot, but even then we would have had trouble. One spot where I was walking, I fell and was lucky I was able to get back up at all. I had absolutely no purchase. I grabbed a tree and managed to get my knee on the side of the trail. That's about where we turned back. :)

My boys are pretty cute.

I just put down my reins at the end and figured Sawyer would park at the trailer, but he passed it and kept going up the road! I guess he's turning into an adventurer.

We're planning on going out again today. Probably somewhere flat and easy. Lovely day for it!

Catch Up

I'm always behind in the blogging game. But for good reason! Spring is busy! Liam has been playing baseball. Lots of baseball. His team is going to State this coming week. Tense stuff. My neice and her husband graduated from WSU and my dad came for a short visit. My daughter is getting married soon but hasn't decided exactly when yet. (No big ceremony allowed! She's so stubborn. I wonder where my kids get it?)

This is so me that I had to save it:

Work is super busy and my headaches aren't allowed to interfere (I wish my boss would have a migraine just once!) but most of the time I do enjoy my job. I just wish I could quit and play with horses all the time. Don't we all?

Anyway, back to the horses! Scout's back is so much better after a couple chiropractic adjustments. It was mostly his sacroiliac joint that was a problem.

Sawyer LOVES having shoes on. You should have seen him running around the pasture after the farrier was done with him. And he doesn't constantly try to head back to the trailer when we're out on the trail. He trucks along at a fast clip. Scout can barely keep up (he has shoes too but he's a fat marshmallow).

Sawyer doesn't seem to like wildlife crashing through the brush, which makes me think maybe he doesn't have as much experience in the woods as I thought. He gets over it though. We've seen several elk and he likes to suggest that we go the other way. He even spooked yesterday when a bunch of twigs broke as something ran away. Silly old man. I like that he spooks forward instead of sideways. That's a lot easier to sit.

I'm really looking forward to many more rides. My soul is so happy in the pines. There's nothing like the smell of the forest and the sound of a creek flowing, and a horse to carry you to a beautiful view. I wish my sister could still go with me. But she has been going for hikes! I'm glad she can get out there and breathe it in.