Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend is here. But, it's not a long weekend for me. I had to work Saturday and was just too tired Sunday to do much of anything. But by today, I was ready to ride. I was invited to ride with Loretta and two of her friends that were staying at Double M Camp. It was quite hot and humid today so we were riding out fairly early. We decided to meet at 8:30 am. So, I got to the barn early to feed and tack Lily up. I was going to ride to Double M by way of Thacker Hollow Rd. I messaged Loretta as I was leaving and got a reply just as I got to the end of Cedar Bluff Lane. They were riding my way so we decided to meet at T-lick. Going up the big hill on Black Ridge, 3 or 4 deer crossed the road and that kind of boogered Lily. She didn't do anything crazy but didn't want to walk by where the deer crossed the road. It didn't take long to get her moving though. When I got to T-lick, there were a group of riders there that I passed. I waited for a few minutes then decided to ride down the trail towards Double M. I passed a few more riders going down to the creek. I waited a few minutes there and continued on towards the camp and soon met up with Loretta and here friends.We discussed where we wanted to ride and decided to strike out for Garden of the Gods. It would be a long ride but we had time to do it. We decided the quickest way to get there would be to go straight down Black Ridge Rd. to the Indian Paint wall by Karber's Ridge and ride into Initial Tree heading for High Knob and the R2R trail. It was a hot day and fairly humid so as we were riding, we decided that Garden of the Gods would not be a great idea for today. Less shady trails and very little water along the way. So, we decided to ride out to Rice Hollow instead.

 We had fun riding in the rocks at Cowboy's Hideout. And Rice Hollow is always beautiful. We circled back and rode to High Knob Campground. We stopped there and were happy to catch JoJo in the office so were able to buy ice creams. Actually, frozen fruit bars that were quite delicious. We rode through camp and rode out the back trail heading for the R2R trail. Through this section, it was noticed that Loretta's horse had a lump on his front leg on the inside just below the knee. And, he was slightly lame. Not bad but just a little off. Loretta did not want to ride him all the way back to camp like that so she called a friend of ours that lives along the R2R trail where it crosses Karber's ridge Rd. Our friend could trailer the three of them back to Double M. Campground. When we got out to Black Ridge Rd. (Sparks Hill Rd. on that end of it) I headed the 3 miles back alone. Lily made no fuss at all about leaving the other horses and mule. She was good all the way home. We did 25 miles today.

Note: Loretta took her horse to the vet the next day and he had a hairline fracture. The prognosis is good for a full recovery.

Horses Can Limbo

 I unexpectedly got the day off today. So, I took advantage of this to do a bit of riding of course. I put a post out on facebook to see if anyone was riding out of Double M Campground or would like to come ride from my place. Then fell asleep in my recliner. So, I didn't see any replies until I woke up at 3:00 AM. Steve Kalahar had replied that he had been planning to ride out of High Knob but Double M would be fine also. I was up fairly early so saw the post in plenty of time. Steve's daughter was going to ride also and and had a work meeting in the morning so the plan was to meet at Double M at noon time.

I headed over to the barn around 10:00 AM. I knew Lily would be out in the big pasture and I didn't know how long it would take to catch her. She is not a hard to catch mule but you never know. Lily and Marie were way down by the road and I had to walk most of the way down. But, Lily did come part of the way to me even though I was holding her halter in plain sight. Good girl! Though she did have some second thoughts as we walked up close to the barn and planted her feet once. She didn't make a fuss of it, she just had to make her feelings known. I groomed her and made sure to give her lots of butt scratches for standing quietly. She didn't even fuss when I put SWAT on her udders. She normally isn't fond of being touched there but the flies have been biting her there and she knew what I was doing and that it would help. She was very good about being saddled and stood nicely for me to mount. Ruth had come out to the barn to gather up the dogs and put them in the house so they wouldn't follow me. I rode the path to Cedar Bluff Ln. and down to Thacker Hollow Rd. and headed to Double M by the road as that's the quickest way to get there. The man that owns the big field at the end of my road was just coming through the field gate and I talked to him for a moment. He lives in KY but comes over and checks on things and puts water for riders in Black's Cabin.

Lily was good about going down the road but as usual was a bit snorty about it. We had two cars pass us and she didn't pay attention to them. I had something in my shoe, so I hopped off to get it out a little before the house with the Alpaca. While I was on the ground, a large truck came down the road coming towards us. It was a semi sized truck but with a rack type of body on it. It was empty so other than being big and a diesel, it was not making any really strange noises. Well....... Miss Lily had a melt down as it passed us. She spun around and bolted towards home. No, how stupid is that! That was the same direction the scary mule eating monster was going. Now why would go run in the same direction as the thing you are so scared of. Dork! Thankfully, when she came to the end of the reins, she spun back my way, then tried to bolt again but came my way again at the end of the reins, while I stumbled around in the ditch holding the reins for dear life. The LAST thing I want her to learn is that she can get away from me. At that point, she decided to scramble up the bank on the other side of the ditch. My feet couldn't keep up with that move and I did a face plant but still held the reins and she again stopped when she came to the end of them. She came back down to the road and finally stood still. I walked her the rest of the way to Double M. I got there at 11:45 AM. I tied Lily up to a tree in the shade by the picnic table. She was restless and wouldn't stand still. She wasn't horrible but wiggled around and pawed a bit. I got a message from Steve that he was going to be a bit late. So, I untied Lily and walked her around to graze. She was MUCH happier about that. While I was grazing her, who do I see coming across the field but Sandy and Jake, Ruth's dogs. Sandy came over to say hello and then spend some time trying to catch a mole. Jake got tired of waiting for her and headed east. Eventually, Sandy followed him. I sent a message to Ruth and she came down looking for them.

 Steve arrived around 1:00 PM. His daughter and her friend were with him, Brooke and Tabatha. Lily was the only mule in the group today. I thought I had my map with me but didn't. No one really cared where we went so we just headed out and wandered around with no particular plan at all. We got onto 184, crossed Black Ridge Rd. and at a corner on 184, took a trail I have seen but never taken. It turned out to be a short cut to 185 going south. We stayed on 185 for a while then took 180 over to 146 to one of the Tee Pees. We headed north on 146 and rode by Lost Lake and through Dead Horse Canyon. We looped around along the top of Dead Horse Canyon and Back onto 146 to the Tee Pee again. From there we headed south on 146 towards High Knob. We went down the the R2R trail. The girls picked up a canter on the R2R trail. I trotted for a bit then asked Lily to pick up a canter to follow them. She had to throw in a couple crow hops. Naughty mule! We picked up 185 north and rode back to 184 not taking the most direct route back towards Double M at all. That was the plan...... that's my story and I'm sticking to it.....  185 has multiple blow downs along the trail that are kind of a scramble to get around. Steve and I had gone around one that required a short but steep scramble up a bank go get around it. Brooke's horse was not too keen about trying to scramble up the bank, he thought he just might be able to get under the tree. Brooke kept trying to convince him to go up the bank. Tabatha went around her and went up the bank with her horse hoping Brooke's horse would follow. But he wouldn't as he was just sure he could get under the tree and he made a dive for it. He squatted down and started to scramble under and as we could all see was going to happen, the saddle horn caught on the tree. The horse panicked for a moment and made all efforts to get through. All I can say is whatever brand of saddle that is, that horn is FIRMLY attached. None of us could believe the horse did not break off. When the horse stopped struggling for a moment and was in a sitting position, the girls were able to push him over just enough to get the horn clear and the horse did make it though. Horse and saddle were fine. Lily had to do an impressive but naughty move when crossing a ditch. She decided to hop over it. The first naughty move. Then, in mid leap, she decided to throw in a double barrel kick at Brooke's horse! The move was very reminiscent of a capriole. Impressive... very naughty. It's very unusual for her to kick at another horse or mule.  We varied our pace throughout the ride. Many places are too rough to go past a walk. We did a fair bit of trotting on the less rocky trails and a bit of a canter on the R2R trail. When we got up to Black Ridge Rd, we parted ways with me heading for home and the others riding on to Double M. Lily walked home quietly. It was a great ride