Weather & Bones

While everyone else was sitting in his or her air conditioning this weekend trying to stay cool, we went camping. It rather odd, but seems we found a little spot in paradise (also known as Saunders County) where the temps were actually decent and enjoyed over six hours of saddle time on Saturday and Sunday morning, albeit it was a scorcher when we unloaded at home early Sunday afternoon!
If you follow the Vasa family follies, you may have heard that my oldest son is now sporting a cast on his right foot. Yep, we almost made it a year since John hooked his foot in Butter’s butt cheeks on a dead run past her and Case and broke a bone in his ankle....

~which, incidentally was 14 months from the time BOTH boys had broken their wrists in two separate accidents when they fell from their horses two weeks apart
~which was almost a year from the date I broke my ankle when Blue stepped on it
~which was 15 months from the time McCain fell from the hayloft in the barn and broke his femur
~which resulted in 24 days in the hospital and the official launch of Horsetrailriders.com!

I’m sure I broke some HIPAA violation or called myself out to Social Services but I have witnesses. They were all legit! McCain’s most recent break is NOT horse related but the results of karma plain and simple! He fell over a pan that was in the weeds in the area of the yard he was suppose to weed and didn’t.

So for McCain’s entertainment this weekend, we brought along his PlayStation and 14-year-old cousin to hang out with at camp while Case and the boy's 10-year-old brother went trail riding with us.

Non-horse people are a fascinating bunch. Adults say little, but kids are the best! First, they have no fear. The young nephew had no qualms about wanting to “loop” (yes, “loop”, not lope) Blue bareback in slick basketball shorts. “Ahhhh, no!” And as we rode down the trails, I would see his little tennis shoes hitting Blue’s sides to get him to run down hills. Luckily, Blue would listen to me following the young rider & when I said “Easy, Blue”, he would go easy. He knows his job and took care of the boy!

Later that evening, the older nephew wanted to ride. Don’t tell Social Services, but we let McCain take off his walking cast and put on a pair of lace up boots and go on a ride with his cousin and us. Ginger took real good care of him! Once the teenaged nephew got his “shoe holders” adjusted (that would be stirrups), he was ready to loop, too! "Slow down, boy!" He wanted more than Blue was offering and rode Butter for part of the evening. When my friend and I broke off for a faster ride, he wanted to tag along and loop, too! For fear of Butter’s butt cheeks, we went without him!

Picking camping weekends is kind of like putting up hay. The internet weather sites give you an average expected temperature and wind expectations and then sneak in that pesky dew point which may or may not blow the entire weekend with ungodly humidity. Then they throw in a chance of thunderstorms just for flavor! So you pick your day, study the radar (because I am pretty sure I can guess as well as Flowers or Ramby!) and roll the dice! This past weekend paid off in spades!