Saturday I double dipped...

Saturday was a double dip kinda day....I took Tripp out that morning and took Wyoming out that evening.  If there were no other responsibilities around the place, can you guess what I would be doing almost every day?  :-)

TRIPP:  "Tell ya what, I will log my 13 miles right here at the grass...will keep the feet moving and we shall call it 'walking in place'...and you can go take your therapeutic walk thru the woods.  Nicker snort munch munch..."

TRIPP:  "Doh!  Wait a minute!  This is not walking in place....this is walking SOMEPLACE! Mumble mumble...was I not clear?  I thought I was clear....I think the Girl is a little 'off' if you know what I mean.  She doesn't listen to me any more.  I say "Let's eat grass" and she acts like she doesn't hear me!  I say "We don't need to canter, we will get there soon enough", and she acts like she doesn't hear me!  I say "Let's just not go and say we did" and she acts like she doesn't hear a word I said.  She either needs to sharpen her horse listening skills or I need to sharpen my human communication skills.  Hmpf!"







TRIPP:  "I apologize.  I was acting kinda snarky for a bit, wasn't I?  Life is good again...lets go trot thru the forest!"

TRIPP:  "Oh oh Girl, be careful when you take your 'break.'  Leaves of three let it be!"

This mossy stuff on the end of the dead log almost glowed...it was so pretty with the sun hitting it.

Whenever I drive out here I scope the field...look over Tripp's right ear...can you tell what it is?

 




Can you tell now?  I bet this old car can tell some stories.  I hope someone brings this classic back to life someday.  It sure is a beauty!  

I am seeing so many of these bright red birds out there!  A friend thought they might be some kind of Oriole but I think they are red finches even tho they seem a bit big for finches.  I think this one is the female...

And I think this is the illusive male.  His color is so deep and rich...one day I will get a better picture of him.  They are beautiful!

We rode down the road.  Tripp was faking me out and I almost cut the ride short.  All of a sudden he was full of energy and smiling at every tree we walked by....so I turned around to continue the ride.  We usually don't ride down the road but I got to wondering if it was longer or shorter doing this versus the trail.  (it was shorter by at least 1/2 mile)

I met a couple of my trail friends.  We always say we are going to meet up to ride but so far this is as close as we have got.  Passing ways....their dogs are awesome too!  Tripp loves dogs and he gives them smooches on the nose.

LuLu is a TWH and Hailey is a mule.  These two friends ride very weekend.  Very nice gals!

And away they go....







Oh my!  Another dog and two more riders!  They were two younger gals and one asked if I rode endurance because I have all the gear.  I was proud as punch that I already look the part!  Ha ha!  I told her "No, but I want to" and she said "I do too!  My friend does it!  Maybe we will see each other at a ride!"  And I bet we will....






Can you guess what I love about this shadow dancing picture?  The foot stepping into the shadow...

Now this thing got a reaction out of trip!  It was a wagon being pulled by a team of small horses.






Then this group of riders showed up just like Bandidos in the old days!  They came from nowhere!  Ha ha!  They were camping at the big campground.  We chatted a while...

...and Tripp watched with interest...some of them were blasting back and forth on their horses and Tripp was not so sure about that, but he handled himself nicely.  And this is why I did not want to bring Wyoming out in the morning.  I knew I would see riders and Wy would not have been able to mentally handle all this.

This little horse was gorgeous!

And away they go....the wagon and passengers were headed back to the campground...

...and the group of riders were headed the same direction I was.  I followed a couple of them to the lake turn off...






...then got ahead of them while they waited for the rest of their group.  I was glad for that.  They were loud...hooting and hollering....and I like quiet.

As Tripp and I started over the dam we saw the two resident geese.





They started trotting away from us honking the whole time, wings spanning out, then they took flight.  Tripp kept his eyes on them but handled it well.  Those geese are pretty noisy!  Ha ha!  I like critter noise.  :-)

I was almost back to the parking lot...my two future trail riding friends were coming up the hill as I was headed down. 

TRIPP:  "Thbpthttbpthttbpthtttbptttppptttppptttt!!!!!"

GIRL:  "Tripp, you should be showing off your taco tongue...not making spit noises at everyone!"

Later in the day I took Wyoming out for a ride.  My goal was to NOT meet any other riders. Ha ha!  You will notice there are only four pictures...that is because the others were not good, and there were not very many of them anyways.  He was not his relaxed self on this ride.   He started out with interest...then I felt him go on edge and stay that way.  I wanted to ride the same route I rode Tripp, except go the trail instead of the road so I could measure the distance. 

We made time for a self portrait.  During this ride I got off Wy twice.  The first time was when I heard the earlier trail riders hooting and hollering, then a couple of their horses whinnied.  Once they did that Wy lost all sense of the Girl on his back.  They whinnied a few more times and he was a basket case, so I decided to play it safe, get off, get his attention, walk a while, and take a self portrait.  :-)  It is this kind of stuff we need to work on, but the only way to work on it is to have it happen...if that makes sense.  I am trying to figure out an organized way of creating this kind of stress.  I try very hard to act like nothing is wrong and to go with the flow, but sometimes the flow is overwhelming to me (and him too).  Time and patience....lots of it. 
  

Our long legged shadow...

WYOMING:  "Rubber curry first please, then the stiffer brush, then the soft one....and please don't forget the face."

We rode 13.6 miles.  It goes by so quickly on him.  The second time I got off him was at the lake dam.  Those two geese were back on the lake bank and when they started honking and trotting the other direction I knew we just might have a problem.  When the geese started to span their wings to take flight, I KNEW we were going to have a problem so I got off real quick.  Once those geese took flight, so did Wy!  Ha ha!  I was very happy to have my feet on the ground by choice! :-)  We walked across the dam and he kept his eye and ear on those geese floating on the water the whole time.  I got back on in the woods and away we went...

All in all it was a good ride.  I just wish it could have been better for Wy.  I was trying to figure out the difference of Friday night and this day.  I am wondering if the energy out there was different.  There were a lot of horses that crossed the trails over the weekend and I know he could smell and hear them.  Part of the ride was spent with him in bloodhound mode.  He had his nose to the ground sniffing...did he smell Tripp?  I don't know...but I wish I did!  I bet his thoughts of the day would fascinate me!

Until later...Karen and Tripp who doesn't want to do any more double digit mileage rides.  :-)