Bits? I dun need no stinkin' bits!
Beautiful day for a ride, it was. Instead I hopped into my truck and drove south. A quick stop to visit with Curt to invite him along with me. "Where to?" I told him I was headed down to Black Raven to take a closer look at the facilities for an upcoming adoption, plus I wanted to talk to Ken a bit.
"Shoulda gone yesterday. His wife Dee Dee started a colt. Would've been good for you to watch."
Yes, it probably would have, but yesterday Darling and I were mounted up and on a ride at the Pilchuck Tree Farm. Three hours and an estimated 400 horses in attendance. Yeah...that is a lot of horses! The tree farm is huge, though, and I'd figured only 200. Only, lol... Well, both Jet and Sandy handled themselves really well for being such beginners and never having seen so many other horses at once. Jet got a little startled once when she rounded a switch back and realized 20 horses were following along behind. She'd thought it was just Sandy.
Anyway, that's why I'd missed day one of the Ken McNabb colt starting. And I didn't stick around this afternoon, either, just wanted to get a feel for the layout for the adoption and chat with Ken a few minutes about possibly helping us get our new US Wild Horse and Burro Association off the ground.
When I got home, the sun was still shining and I'd pretty much run out of emails and websites online to avoid what I knew I really ought to be doing. Working Dude. So out I went and saddled the boy up, working him a few minutes from the ground inside the round pen while Darling hopped up on Sandy and took her first bareback ride out in the pasture. Dude was laid back and not caring about anything else going on, so I began bouncing up and down in the stirrups, both from the left and right side.
"You gonna get on?"
"Maybe."
"I'll call Dad for you."
Gotta love cell phones. A couple minutes later City Boy was there at the end of the lead rope. He'd never been an anchor before for me, but as it turned out he did a pretty decent job. He stood at Dude's head waiting as I bounced up and swung my leg over, then climbed back down to the ground. Third time up and City Boy decided we needed to walk. We didn't go far, just five or six steps and I got off and unsaddled.
A completely uneventful first time, just the way I like it.
"Shoulda gone yesterday. His wife Dee Dee started a colt. Would've been good for you to watch."
Yes, it probably would have, but yesterday Darling and I were mounted up and on a ride at the Pilchuck Tree Farm. Three hours and an estimated 400 horses in attendance. Yeah...that is a lot of horses! The tree farm is huge, though, and I'd figured only 200. Only, lol... Well, both Jet and Sandy handled themselves really well for being such beginners and never having seen so many other horses at once. Jet got a little startled once when she rounded a switch back and realized 20 horses were following along behind. She'd thought it was just Sandy.
Anyway, that's why I'd missed day one of the Ken McNabb colt starting. And I didn't stick around this afternoon, either, just wanted to get a feel for the layout for the adoption and chat with Ken a few minutes about possibly helping us get our new US Wild Horse and Burro Association off the ground.
When I got home, the sun was still shining and I'd pretty much run out of emails and websites online to avoid what I knew I really ought to be doing. Working Dude. So out I went and saddled the boy up, working him a few minutes from the ground inside the round pen while Darling hopped up on Sandy and took her first bareback ride out in the pasture. Dude was laid back and not caring about anything else going on, so I began bouncing up and down in the stirrups, both from the left and right side.
"You gonna get on?"
"Maybe."
"I'll call Dad for you."
Gotta love cell phones. A couple minutes later City Boy was there at the end of the lead rope. He'd never been an anchor before for me, but as it turned out he did a pretty decent job. He stood at Dude's head waiting as I bounced up and swung my leg over, then climbed back down to the ground. Third time up and City Boy decided we needed to walk. We didn't go far, just five or six steps and I got off and unsaddled.
A completely uneventful first time, just the way I like it.
4 comments:
What! First ride and no pictures? Your priorities are all messed up... :)
Congrats on a great first ride!
Wahooo! How exciting. First rides are wonderful when things go right.
I've got to get up on Luna soon, but I don't have an anchor (I like that term!) around until Thanksgiving when Aubrey returns from Vet school for the holiday.
200 horses sounds like a lot. I've been on very large rides but I prefer the small ones. It's great that Jet and Sandy handled it fine!
Maybe the reason I don't like big rides is because the horse I was on was uncomfortable with so many other horses!!
A wonderful first ride - I agree with Andra though - where are the pictures? Where is Part 2 of the Quiet Storm story? Am waiting. I really wanted to come over to Ken McNab's clinic BUT elk hunting was more important. LOL
You know...its funny that I didn't think to haul the camera up onto that horse with me, eh? After all, I had it when I sat down on Jet's back the first time :)
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