Back on Black

After our return from Brushy Creek, the Black sat. Well, figuratively speaking that is... He really just stood in the pasture or at the round bale, but he didn't get pulled to do anything. I rode Blue on the next Platte River Ride and then we had rain and the pens were muddy and (fill in the blank for other excuses). And before I knew it, ten days had passed since he was last ridden; a few more since I rode him. So for the last Platte River Ride this past Wednesday, I rode the Black.

I hauled three horses: Black for myself, Ginger for Sam and Windy for Gretchen. Sam and I planned to meet a little early for a pre-ride. I saddled Windy and Black while Sam saddled Ginger. After mounting, had Sam hand me Black’s lead rope. Windy had never ponied before – (or if she did it was for a short time & I have no memory of the event – which wouldn’t be unusual… I tend to leave storage in my long term memory for the life threatening or really important moments) -- and this would be Black’s first time being ponied for any distance. Sam headed out on Ginger and we followed. Windy was pretty tolerant of the young colt most of the time. He did stop to poop once and I didn’t stop her fast enough, so dropped the rope. And if she would try to snitch food along the trail & I pushed her along, she would give him the eye like it was his fault she couldn’t eat! (They are just like my kids; always blaming the other!) We rode a very uneventful ride for an hour and then returned to the trail head to meet the rest of the riders.

About forty riders showed up for the final ride of the regular season. After a quick sandwich, we mounted up and headed out with the group. We didn’t lead, but were probably in with the first half dozen riders. The colt didn’t cause me too much grief. Noted inappropriate behaviors included trying to kick at Tammy M's horse when we were bottlenecked at the gate. He did try to trot up if too much trail got between him and Ginger and I would slow him by one-rein stops or half halts. No bucks, spooks or sticky feet. Crossed all the logs; jumped one or two. Plowed through the mud and most of the time worked off my leg to keep my knee from getting pounded on trees. I did get him to go ahead of Ginger a few times, too. We rode for about 2 hours. I was happy with the ride. The journey continues....

Although the Platte River Riders riding season has ended (because we ran out of daylight for evening rides), we are coming into what is my favorite time of the year for riding. I’m trying hard not to complain about the rain as that will really green up the pastures for fall grazing… but jeez, can’t it do this on a Monday? I get off at noon on Friday and now that the kids are back in school, I was really looking forward to having Friday afternoons free for riding. But it has been raining the past two. I rode in it last week. This week… well, the horses are “sitting” nicely in the corral right now.

This fall promises more saddle time with Black including lessons, continued lessons with Windy and wonderful autumn rides. This month is my annual camping trip with friends. Next month the Horsetales group is getting together at Turkey Creek and then toward the end of October is the family outing for Platte River Riders. Looking at my ride log from last year, November 18th was about the last real trail ride for the year . Ergh… that’s only 2 months away. Hate to think about winter riding. That is NOT the most wonderful time of the year for me….

So don't go feeling sorry for that Black colt for sitting for 10 days. He's got more days on his agenda. I've got more days on my agenda. He's getting more and more expensive! :)