Nature Blog Post 3- Sunset Ride

I went to the barn around 5:30pm on Wednesday, October 2. I wasn't in the best mood, and it was getting late already, so I knew all I wanted to do was trail. I him-hawed around a little bit, dragging my feet, talking to the barn owner, cleaning Angie's stall, but I knew a ride would be good for me. So I tacked up using one of the spare Western saddles and off we went. I chose a Western saddle, because sometimes she is a bit strong on the trail and it is safer if you are planning to go out farther on the trails by yourself, you should have the security of a Western saddle, even if they are uncomfortable to me.

I took her down the road and up the hill that we usually go. Angie sped up into a slow canter to help give her power up the hill and I let her, keeping a loose rein. The leaves were beautiful! When we got to the part where the high grass turns into trees on either side, I had to stop to take a picture. The leaves on the Maple trees had turned every shade of orange, yellow, and red. Some of them were still green and clinging to their branches, and some of the ones that had welcomed Autumn were also hanging on. Leaves had also flittered to the ground over the course of the last few weeks, making a blanket of leaves on the forest floor; our own personal red carpet.

I don't think you can see the colors as well because I didn't have my flash on, but Angie wouldn't stay still long enough to let me play with my camera.

We walked through the woods, a little bit faster paced than normal, because I had taken Angie out right as the horses were about to get fed, so she was hungry. She kept trying to turn around when she thought I wasn't paying attention. But, let me tell you, tonight it happened. The moment I have been waiting to blog about for weeks happened. We saw deer. We wouldn't have known they were there until they started bounding through the underbrush, twigs snapping and leaves crunching. They ran ahead of us, blending in with the brown trees, only the white flaps of their tails visible as they ran with them straight up in the air. Angie's ears pricked forward, but she didn't spook, she just stopped to stare at them. I asked her to walk again and we followed at a safe distance, continuing on our trail ride. 

We made it to the big clearing adn instead of turning right out of the treeline, we went left, which was somewhere we normally don't go. We continued up the hill and through an overgrown patch, I had to duck pretty far to the left, careful that the horn on the Western saddle didn't poke me. I trusted Angie to not bolt as soon as we had made it through the thicket, giving her plenty of rein. 

Once we were up the hill we came upon the big junk pile. I don't know how else to describe it. On summer nights the dirt bike riders come up to this spot and burn old couches and pallets of wood, having themselves a bonfire. Normally, it's okay to walk around the outskirts, but I noticed more broken bottles than normal, so I had to literally tell Angie where to put every foot, it was nerve wracking! I was so scared that the glass would cut the tender part on the bottom of her hoof. We continued on our trail ride, and even though Angie was walking faster, she was not tense, so I gave her a fairly loose rein. I stopped to take a sunset picture before turning back. 

The sunset. Angie put her head down to grab a few bites of grass while I was snapping this picture, but I promise she's there!

We descended the hill on the other side, so I could make a right at the bottom of it to make a circle for home. I made sure to lean back to help keep Angie balanced while going down the hill. She was anxious to get home so she tried to trot, but I made her walk so she didn't slide going down the hill too fast. When we made it to the bottom of the hill I did let her canter to get a little bit of her energy out. I only let her canter because I knew this part of the trail well and I knew that there weren't any ruts that she could trip into. It was nice to feel the cooler breeze on my cheeks in the warm fading dusk. The landscape blurred as Angie picked up speed. I pulled her up after a little while so she didn't get too sweaty and made her walk back to the barn. She tried to trot so she could get home to her dinner faster, but I didn't want to encourage barn sour behaviors, so she could walk back and walk back on my terms. The grass on either side of the trail was tall and I heard little animals scurrying through it. 

We made it back to Kim's property and we were walking back to the barn down a long breezeway and the deer appeared again. Once again, I didn't have time to get my camera out, but they really scared Angie this time. They bounded through the pastures and all around us, I had counted about five, but there could have been more they were so fast. I pulled her up to a halt and she was shaking and throwing her head. She's seen deer before so I don't know if it was because we were in lower lighting and it was hard for her to see or if there had been a coyote stalking the deer, but I thought it better to get out of there. I tried to keep her calm by talking to her all the way down the hill to the barn. She was fine by the time we got back, her ears pricked forward. She was breathing a little heavy though so I dismounted and walked her around the barn a few times to get her to stop laboring. Once she was breathing normally I took her into the barn and untacked, then I put her back in her stall and gave her some grain. While she ate I brushed the sticky hitchhikers out of her tail (those little green things that stick to anything and everything). 

I enjoyed our sunset ride, which is something I don't do very often. It was relaxing to just be out on our own away from the world for a little while.