Ok, so today, being my friend's Birthday, we all went on a Trail Ride. It was originally to be a 4 hour ride with other people bringing their horses but because of different circumstances, it ended up being just our group of 5. :) And it didn't help that it started to rain. Oh yeah, and it was like, less than 50F.
Yay.
Now, when you go on a Red Hawk Stable Trail Ride, it is almost never dull. They are, 95% of the time, what we call "eventful". Whether we are laughing till our sides hurt or trying to spot "spiffets" in the woods, there is always something going on.
However, I didn't say the happenings were always good. :)
First example; it rained. Just enough to get us pretty wet and chilly. Really hoping we don't end up with pneumonia, colds...or Ebola. :)
Second example; my horse, the lovely Miss Dory, decided she was really loving the idea of running. Now, Dory is feisty. She gets a bit full of herself and her middle name is Speed. I didn't want to canter her down the flat tracks by myself because I know she likes to run and I have a tendency to not control my nerves-which makes things worse-so my Instructor says she will canter beside me while holding onto Dory, who will be attached to a lead rope.
Ok, lets do this thing.
Leaving the other three members of our group behind, we start off. At first Dory decides a trot is nice and I'm thinking; "Ok, this is good!". Then it happens.
The explosion.
Unable to contain the urge anymore she starts galloping, breaking the strap on her bridle, leaving the lead rope in the dirt and deciding to try to leave my Instructor in her dust.
Crap.
So here I am, flying down the puddle-filled tracks in the woods on a horse who thinks she's running in the Kentucky Derby, and she's not even a Thoroughbred. My thighs, at this point, go into survival mode and are doing all they can to keep me in that saddle. In a few seconds, my Instructor, on trusty old Spice, catches up and yells "Pull back", and I do.
Of course, Dory says; "I'm having too much fun to stop!" and keeps going. Between the two of us we manage to get her to stop before we hit the road. And I'm still in the saddle. :D I survived! I didn't hit the ground going at unknown speeds, I didn't slam into a tree, and my brain didn't shut down rendering me immobile at it has been known to do.
Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good. :)
Fast forward a little bit. That little jaunt in no way dampened Dory's desire to run. In fact it made her want to run some more. So I say to my friend; "I'll hold Romeo (her horse) and you run her down the tracks a bit and blow off some steam." She agrees and she and my Instructor take off and the rest of us wait. Here is their story.
Dory goes faster than she did with me, jumping puddles and making my poor friend lose her stirrups, and once again, it took the two of them to maker her stop. Luckily she stopped before they reached a really rutted out water-filled part of the path, complete with three or four tires someone threw back there. After that, she did settle down.
Add in the fact that I banged my knee off a tree, my extra sweatshirt hit the ground twice and we were harassed by a mangy looking dog, this ride was pretty interesting. :P
Other events in the day included me acquiring burns to my mouth from hot pizza, and the purchase of an iPod touch for myself.
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to our next big trail ride.
(note; this actually all took place yesterday, but I didn't get to finish the post until today, and I didn't feel like changing it.)
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