What Should have been Ride 4

What Should have been Ride 4

Ride 1 and 2 went terrific for Ellen and Dante.  Ride 3 was a little more difficult. 

When it came time for ride 4, the river was a little high.  Ellen decided to step back and just do the hill to build her confidence back up.  I joined her on foot.

There really isn't much to write about.  Dante was perfect.  They rode down the hill, trotted back and forth at the bottom a number of times and rode partway up.  Ellen led the rest of the way.  Complete and perfect success.  Ellen's confidence was restored.

She joined Kevin and me on our ride.  This time, she was the one on foot.  When she does this, she drives down to the park to the other side of the river, because it is still to cold for her to cross it, herself.  (I really don't know how the horses tolerate the cold water.)

Kevin and I got across the river before she arrived, so we just took off trotting.  We knew we would catch up with her on the way back.  We had a fun ride, and since it was a chilly morning, we did a lot of trotting to get nice and warm.  That way, we would be comfortable when we caught up with Ellen and walked home.

When we did find her, she was so excited.  A birdwatcher showed her a tree that had 2 baby barred owls and a parent.  She said they were the cutest thing she ever saw.  We couldn't wait to get to there, ourselves.  We wanted to see the baby owls, too. 

She wasn't kidding.  They were about the cutest thing we ever saw--just about half the size of their parent and so fluffy!  We watched them for a while.  The mother flew off to a different tree, but the 2 babies were each on a branch, watching us.  

Though originally disappointed that Ellen didn't go on the trail ride with us, I was now very happy that she didn't.  We saw the birdwatcher, and he didn't tell us about the owls--he only pointed them out to Ellen.  Now we know where they are so we can check them on every ride.

The next evening, Kevin and I were riding with Shari.  We didn't see the owls on the way out, and we thought we didn't see them when we returned; until Shari looked at a different tree.  There was one of the babies.  Of course, she was just as excited as us. 

Her phone has a good camera, so she is the one that took the pictures.

Now, isn't he just about the cutest thing you ever saw?

(By the way, Ellen's ride 4 was the next day, and it went beautifully!)