Road Closed

I went out walking this morning to see how my neighbors fared during our recent flooding. City Boy had driven around the block with the kids, but this was the first time this week I'd taken the time to venture off my beaten path. The summer pasture where the sheep and horses reside is quite wet. The property is a long, narrow strip...air strip, to be exact, as Donna's late husband had built it up in the center so he could fly his little plane in. On both sides of the old strip, water is running deep and cold, trying to find its way out to the ditches alongside the road.


The road was not so happy to see the water coming, as there was too much for the ditch to hold, and it spilled over, cutting into the shoulder and beneath the blacktop...

...and in fact, right through the blacktop and across the road to the other side!

A couple of driveways were lost; people found themselves forced to park on the road itself (you may notice that on this little country road, there is no shoulder, so they literally were leaving cars on the road.) Thankfully, it's a peaceful little valley without a lot of traffic to deal with. The driveways have been repaired, and the road closed as work gets underway.

Back in my little world the road is definitely not closed. Steve Holt! has discovered treats. I had to shove one up inside his mouth to get him to take it, and he spit it back out at me a couple of times, but I finally convinced him I wasn't going to stop and he chewed it up. Realizing that it was a far sight tastier than the bit, Steve Holt! has wasted no time in become a treat hound. Which is good, really, because now he's got a reason to look to be inside my space, rather than me trying to get inside his. We spent a fair amount of time today just hanging out and eating junk food together.

Today was ride 11, and I must say I'm quite please with how things are going. The whoa is slow, but beginning to take shape. He's beginning to recognize that when I relax, open up at the knees and sit down it means a slow down transition is about to take place. Today at the lope (no kicking up the heels, yeah!) he was more than ready to drop from the lope into a trot when asked, and from the trot he managed a slow transition to stop. I like that he's beginning to relax. I may haul him up to a trail night at a local arena tomorrow...we'll see.