Friday, October 18, 2013

A few more vacation days

Ellen and I took a couple of days off to ride and for fall shots. Unfortunately, the river was a little too high to cross Dante. We took Cole, Ranger and Starry up to the show ring trails and had a very nice time. I led Cruiser while Ellen worked Dante in the arena. They are steadily improving. Ellen then came over my house and we worked on rebuilding my garden wall. We got the first 4 layers finished. Since the big stones need to go on the bottom, there was a lot of heavy lifting. Most of the stones took both of us to lift. We were both very sore from it, but at least it is starting to come into shape. Now that we are down to smaller stones, I can work on it a little on my own.

Yesterday, the river was too high for us to cross any of our horses. Once again, I led Cruise while Ellen rode Dante in the arena. Then we rode Cole and Ranger on the hill three times. We went out to lunch at Burger King—then came back to wait for the vet. I untangled Cole’s mane and part of his tail—then I got bored. I never got to Cruiser’s mane and tail. I just groomed him. The vet was on the early side. All the horses got fall shots. Dante was really good. Since Ranger is petrified of the vet, it was nice that Ellen ended up with a horse that wants to make friends with the vet instead of run away. Only Ranger and Dante needed their teeth done. The other three are good for another year.

The weather is not looking too promising for the weekend. Whatever happens, we will make the best of it. Next week, there just will not be any time for a trail ride after work—it will be time to start riding Cole in the arena. Sigh…

4 comments:

Brian's Home Blog said...

I sure hope you get some more good rides in before the weather takes a turn!

Achieve1dream said...

Be careful with those rocks! After my husband injured his back I am super cautious about lifting heavy things. It is so easy to permanently mess up your back and it changes your life forever. Sorry if it sounds like I'm lecturing. I just don't want anything to happen to you. :)

I hope the river goes down so you can get in a few more rides before the time change. I meant to ask earlier, why you can't ride after dark? Is it just a safety thing? When I was a kid I would ride in the middle of the night all the time in the pasture with no lights on (we didn't have any outdoor lights). I've even ridden Chrome after dark. I'm just curious. :)

Judi said...

We don't ride in the dark because it is a public park--and that's the rules. The end of the trail, before we cross the river to get home, is right by the street, and we just don't want any fuss with the rangers.

Also, we have to ride a little on the street and cross it to get to the barn. I don't feel comfortable doing it in the dark. We wait on the driveways for the cars to pass before we go on the road. Years ago, there was a horse that got killed when they were riding on the road just past sunset. I just can't get that out of my mind.

We do have a little trail that goes around the property, and I often ride that on those lovely, moonlit snowy nights. It is just so pretty.

Achieve1dream said...

Ahh I got you. That makes sense. I didn't know parks had rules against riding after dark. Then again the parks around here don't allow horses at all...

I'm glad you have the trail around the property at least, but yeah even that gets boring. I'm so tired of riding around the pasture so I can imagine being stuck in the arena and on the property gets old fast lol. Well hopefully winter won't last too long hehehe!