On the trail

Well, things can't always be perfect, can they?

I fell off of Missy today. I don't know if I fell or if I bailed- it all happened so fast- but I hit the ground.

Doug has been off of the farm twice with Missy and some other horses, and she was nervous, but good. So, today I invited two girls to ride with me, and I thought that everything would be okay- she'd just follow them, right?

FINALLY! Missy has experienced her first trail ride! Well, we haven't ridden her outside of the roundpen, except for Friday, when I led her around with my mom, neice, and nephew taking turns sitting on her. So yesterday, our farm's owner was warming up Chico in the roundpen for a lesson later, and Doug tacked Missy up outside. Before we knew it, Angela was out there with us, with her young son riding double, ready for a ride down to the bridge. Doug informed her that he and Missy were going to tail along, and then Stacey got in on the action, bridling up April and jumping on bareback!

I could see the thunder clouds looming over the mountain range where the Colfax Coal Rush endurance ride was to be held. As I drove closer to base camp a crackling rod of lightning struck across the sky. The radio station went off the air. I thought this is going to be a scary ride.

By morning the clouds were gone and the sky was blue. The ground was muddy, but that didn't stop us from hustling down the trail. I rode the 55-miler with Arrow. We started in the middle of the pack of about 20 riders. Just as I thought he would do, he slowed to the back of the pack when we started the climb up the first mountain. The views from the trail were endless. We could see the Tinaja Plains and the snow capped peaks of Colorado. There is a steep and narrow part of the trail called Cupcake, which was like riding in frosting because of the mud. The clouds rolled in in the afternoon and kept the sun off of us, which was really nice. It is surprising how hot it can get in the mountains. We took 12 hours to complete the ride.

I went out early this morning in a futile attempt to beat the wind. My neighbor has an American flag blowing in his front yard, and I use it as a wind meter. If the flag is just flapping, the wind is tolerable, if it is wickedly whipping, the wind will be like riding in a vacuum hose, if it is sticking straight out like it was starched the wind will take your skin off.
When I left the house at 7:30 a.m. it was barely flapping. But the wind was cold. I wore silk long johns, a long sleeve tee-shirt, a flannel shirt, and my collection of polar fleece that is a blue color coordinated combo of socks, gloves, neck sock, vest and riding tights, and over all of that I wore a heavy winter coat. My nose was cold.