Nature Blog Post 2- Enjoying the Fall Landscape

So, today, September 17th I went to the barn around 1:00 in the afternoon. I did homework in the morning and waited for the weather to heat to a beautiful almost fall day. Angie and I only did a little flat work in the arena before I decided to go on a trail ride. I am letting her have an easy week because we just had a show on Sunday, and she did amazing, so she gets a little vacation.

Angie and I with our second place ribbon for 2'3" Novice Jumpers

Jamie, the 8 year old I give lessons to also won a first (blue) and a third (yellow) for her classes! Plus, I swear my horse poses for pictures- look at that sweet face!

The sun felt warm on my face as we started up the hill and I felt comfortable in my hoodie with the cool air around us. I went in through our usual way, down the road a bit and then up into the woods. I love going this way because I love hearing the sound of Angie's shoes on the concrete. The rhythmic "clip clop" soothes me. Today though, the neighbors were doing some sort of construction and tree trimming, so it made her uneasy. I am not sure exactly what they were doing, but it's a big truck yard thing so every time they dropped something heavy our of one of the dump trucks Angie spooked forward a little bit. She was very tense today.

 I would just like to make a note here and say that my horse is not a trail horse, she is truly a show pony and quite the diva extraordinaire. When she got off the trailer the other day she tried so hard to avoid stepping down into mud that she jumped and landed in an even bigger mud puddle, splashing the whole front of her legs and my good show breeches. *Sigh,* if she had just stepped down we could have avoided all of that. So, you can see, she does not find trail rides as amusing as I do. Sometimes I can get her to relax and others I just have to deal with her fast paced walk and snorts and sudden bursts of trot.

Okay, back to the main topic of the men doing construction or whatever they were working on. I think it is funny that they were trimming trees and altering the landscape around us. It really made me think about how it is such a big deal to be immersed in nature these days and how we as humans value this, but then again we only like it when it is shaped into what we want and almost domesticated. Those trees and bushes on the side of the road were not hurting anybody, and yet, the barn neighbor was out there with his chainsaw looking thing cutting branches down and making a ruckus.

Angie's ears were pricked forward the entire ride today though, which meant she was listening to me, she was just uneasy. Every time I even touched her sides with my legs she tensed and thought there was danger because she would jolt forward. Even though she was not completely relaxed I did let her eat a couple bites of grass so she calmed down enough for me to enjoy our ride. We went up through the woods and the way the sun shone through the trees in little golden slivers was beautiful (of course Angie was having no picture breaks today). The leaves had already started falling to the ground and they crunched under Angie's sure steps. We made it out into the big field and I decided to take her on a path we don't venture our on very often. Mostly because I don't feel that she is relaxed enough to take her out into the wide open spaces of the field. I know she wasn't completely relaxed today, but I wasn't ready to go back to the barn yet and there are only so many trails in the woods.

We started out and rounded the bend, nothing but wide open spaces surrounding us. I could see the dump and hear their usual business of covering up our unwanted thing, but they didn't seem as loud today. We stayed out in the field for about thirty minutes, following the worn in paths. As Angie was in no mood to stand still for a picture, I got off and snapped some of the new landscape. The grass was dry and getting ready to die off for another winter. Angie kept stomping her feet because hundreds of grasshoppers were jumping on our legs and over one another.

Her ears are in the picture because she didn't want me to step away from her, but you can see how the grass is drying into a brown and the surrounding shrubs are starting to yellow for Fall.

The clear blue sky always amazes me, it makes me feel like we are in a different world, almost like coming out of the treeline takes us into our own Narnia.

I jumped back on, which is difficult to do in an English saddle, but I wanted you guys to witness the beauty that I get to see whenever I spend time with my mare. We made our way back down the hill to that barn and I dismounted, sad that our ride was over, but happy that I got to spend time with her. I would stay on her back all day if I could, I don't care if that makes me weird or obsessed or crazy, but we understand each other without having to say a word to one another.

Since it was such a beautiful day out I got to turn her out into one of the fields with her sister and another one of our younger horses. They had a blast running together and bucking and letting out all of their energy.

Angie, her sister Sophia on the right, and Sealia, the black Appendix in the middle.

I wasn't ready to leave just yet because no one else was there and I was enjoying some time to myself, so I swept the aisle and made sure that everyone had enough water. The baby even let me kiss his nose without trying to use me as a teething ring (I'll make sure to get a picture of him for next time). I enjoyed my time at the barn and look forward to going back this weekend.

One more picture before you go, Chancey, one of the barn cats, lazily stretching on a bale of hay.